Zootopia: A Paradox in Time
by Old Goat
Summary: A strange pocket watch is found with the bones of a murdered victim. Nick and Judy find themselves dragged into the past and they think that the only way they can save themselves from being trapped there forever is to stop the murder. For Judy the Roaring Twenties is exciting, but Nick finds that it is a dangerous time to be a fox.
1. An Old Mystery

**Zootopia: A Paradox in Time**

 **A strange pocket watch is found with the bones of a murdered victim. Nick and Judy find themselves dragged into the past and they think that the only way they can save themselves from being trapped there forever is to stop the murder. For Judy the Roaring Twenties is exciting, but Nick finds that it is a dangerous time to be a fox.**

* * *

 **Welcome readers, I was inspired to write this short story when I found an old beat up pocket watch at a thrift store. It reminded me of how such a once precious possession can in time become junk, but what if there is more to the watch than meets the eye? I don't know who owned the watch and why it end up in a box of random stuff, that my friends is another story which may never be told, but this story begins with a murder most foul.**

 _I do not own the rights to Zootopia or any of its characters. This story was written solely for the reader's enjoyment and without any profitable purposes. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious._

* * *

 **September 14, 1925**

 _The thin middle aged cheetah was kneeling in the center of a muddy backroad, his once white dress shirt was ripped and there was blood trickling down his muzzle onto his torn striped tie before it dripped to stain the gravel below his knees crimson red. The private detective had long given up any attempts to wiggle or cut his way out of the stout ropes which bound his arms behind his back. Looking up at the two figures that were outlined by the car's headlights he shook his head. "Yeah, it figures it would be you in charge," he spoke to the third figure who slowly climbed out of a nearby unmarked patrol car. "I knew that Al Catpone had his claws into the cops, but I didn't know he owned the Chief of Police too?"_

" _Catpone don't own me chump," the fat ram in the dark blue uniform grunted out as he walked his way towards the wounded cat. The four gold stars on each of his uniform's shirt collars glittered in the car lights. "We have a mutual business arrangement which make us both rather rich."_

" _He shouldn't have killed Molly Greenhoofs," the detective sighed. "She wasn't anyone important, just an innocent young doe from Deerbrook County."_

" _What can I say?" the ram chuckled. "Catpone has unique tastes for a jaguar, he's into prey stalking."_

" _You know you won't get away with this?" the kneeling cat sighed. "Justice will prevail, even if I have to climb my way out of hell to get you."_

" _I won't get away with it? Ha, I already have Clawhauser and there's no coming back from where you're going," the ram chuckled and then stepped back as he nodded to the other two officers standing next to him. They both lowered their rifles and fired, riddling the helpless cheetah with round after round. After looking intently over the now dead body, the fat ram finally spoke again, "Dump him in the swamp where no one will find him!"_

* * *

 **Present Day**

"So this is where we found the skeleton," a tired looking otter wearing the light tan uniform of the city's Department of Fisheries and Wildlife said to the tall muscular horse dressed in a rumpled light grey suit. Detective Ronald Oates ran his hoof through the back of his auburn furred neck and then scratched the cream-colored mark that ran down his muzzle. "Some of the local boys were out frog gigging last night and their spear pulled up a bone, so one thing led to another."

Looking back at the slime encrusted partial skeleton, which had been laid out on a blue tarp, the detective sighed. "Definitely a medium sized male feline and based on the few mud soaked remains of clothing, I would say he died sometime in the pre-war part of the last century. Maybe the 1920's or 1930's, but I can't tell for sure," he said to his companions.

A much smaller rabbit in a light blue tactical uniform with dark blue impact plates joined him and knelt in the muck. "We found these embedded in the body," Judy said as she held up a plastic bag with a few bullets inside and then she passed another bag to the detective. "The only other thing is this broken watch."

The detective held it up and thoughtfully looked it over before answering, "A bronze double hunter style pocket watch with one of the lids missing. Have the lab boys open this up at the station, maybe we will be lucky and find an engraving inside the remaining lid." Judy nodded as she returned the items to their places on the blue tarp.

"Forensics is waiting for the body, but based on the bullets we found I'd say it was a murder," a red fox in a dark blue uniform added as he joined them by the tarp.

"That's an assumption Wilde," the detective drawled out, his voice had a country twang to it. "I reckon everyone knows the old saying to never ASSUME, because when you ASSUME, you make an ASS of U and ME. No, we'll let the lab guys give us a definitive answer and then see which way the wind blows after that."

"Like I haven't heard that pearl of wisdom before," Nick scoffed. "I doubt he died from old age."

"That's exactly why your partner will one day be a detective and you'll stay a beat cop," the horse replied in an amused voice as he sucked on a thin strip of wheat straw. "She doesn't jump to conclusions like you do Red."

"And you don't look as naive as you act," the fox replied with a smirk.

"Sometimes acting like a down home, dirt dumb hick can cause the bad guys to underestimate you," the detective chuckled as he followed the fox towards the large black and white patrol cruiser. "Besides, a little homespun wisdom might do you some good city boy."

"Yeah, that's what Fluff back there tries to tell me," Nick snickered as he dug around for a thermos and a couple of Styrofoam cups. Carefully he poured the still hot coffee into the cups and offered the larger one to the horse. "She has even threatened to haul me down to the family farm to do some field work, claiming that hard work might teach me some humility."

"I never thought I'd up and hear the word humility come out of that pie hole?" the detective laughed as he sipped the dark brew before changing the subject. "Ya'll should really be more…ah…selective in what you up say when you tease Bogo."

"Yeah, I'm the one who had to sign my performance review," Nick sighed as he added another packet of sugar to his drink. "Insubordinate…sarcastic… "

"Woah partner, no need to lay out your little old personality disorders to me," Oates chuckled. "They're well known to everyone."

"They all come with being a fox," Nick shrugged. "Everyone expects me to be the way I am and I learned at an early age to be that way, so old habits are hard to break."

"Hopps saw something in you that the rest of us didn't," the detective replied as he stopped sipping his coffee and stared out into the swamp as if he was contemplating his words before looking back down at the fox in the blue uniform. "She went to bat for you with Bogo and then he put his butt on the line to give you a chance to wear those blues. No one in the department, or even in the city, imagined that one day we'd see a fox become a cop."

Nick's ears flattened and he looked back at his partner who was interviewing one of the two teenage skunks who had found the bones. "I never told her how hard it is for me to wear this uniform," he sighed before looking up at the taller detective. "Even dressed like this I'm despised and ridiculed. I've heard other cops saying that I only got my job because of minority recruitment, that I'm unqualified and that I'm just here because someone in public relations wants to use me as an example of how progressive the ZPD has become."

"Wilde you earned that uniform," the detective said as he leaned down closer to the small mammal. "You're smarter than most cops and have great instincts, you've lived on the streets and know what folks are most likely to do under stress, where they might hide, and how they might act. These recruits from cozy suburban neighborhoods only learn this after many years of being in the field, if they survive, but you already have it as a rookie."

"Toot toot, lucky me!" the fox sarcastically laughed as he made a pumping gesture like that of pulling on a train whistle with his right paw. "Next you'll be telling me that the red fur makes me lucky because the bad guys can't see me bleed."

"Har…Har…Har," the detective scoffed. "Being a fox gives you a lot of gifts that I don't have."

"Name one!" the fox challenged as he returned to his coffee. "Besides being the guy who always gets blamed when something goes wrong."

"Okay pard, lets start with your eyes..." the detective began to say, only frown when he was cut off by the fox batting his eyes while looking up at him.

"Aw, you like my eyes! That's so sweet you big lunk," Nick chuckled as he smirked up at the larger mammal.

"Can it Wilde!" the horse sighed. "I'm trying to make a point here."

"Who's stopping you?" Nick laughed as he continued to bat his eyes at the detective. "Is it my eyes?"

Oates let out a huff and shook his mane, before continuing, "As I was trying to say, you can see in the dark and I can't. Second, your hearing is almost as good as your partner's. Then there's your sniffer which is just shy matching any wolves," the horse counted down. "You're thin and wiry, which makes you fast and maneuverable up close."

"I've gone from cute eyes to being thin and wiry, you need to make up you mind big guy," the fox snickered, before he added. "You can still outrun me on the track,"

"It's called trotting when I do it on a track and yes I can outrun you in the long run, but you can out turn me up close," Oats added. "You should stop selling yourself short."

"You just said short, was that a pun?" The much smaller mammal laughed again and then he gave the detective a look of warning as they both saw the even smaller rabbit approach. "So did those two little stinkers know anything that was useful?"

"No!" Judy grumbled in frustration as she joined them by the cruiser. "They just found the bones and then called the ranger."

"Well I reckon there's not much more we can do around here, so let's pack it in and see what the archives have for us," Oats sighed as he leaned against the cruiser. "I don't think we have any active missing mammal records from the 20's or 30's, so we've up and got ourselves a little old cold case."

"So Carrots, why are you looking so glum?" Nick asked as he gave her a knowing smirk. He had kept an eye on her during the interview and had a good idea of what was going on, but he just wanted to tease his partner.

"The chubby one kept asking me out," she sighed. "I about decked him when he said that I was so cute in this uniform."

"Annnnd there you go Oates, just another day on the beat for Wilde and Hopps," Nick sarcastically chuckled. "We're just an untrustworthy sly fox and a cute little bunny wunny playing at being cops. Welcome to our world!"

"No Nick, its Hopps and Wilde!" Judy corrected her partner. "I've got seniority rookie."

The tall handsome horse just replied with a long neighing sigh as he shook his head.


	2. History from a Fox's Perspective

**Chapter 2: History from a Fox's Perspective**

* * *

 **In the previous chapter, Nick laid out some of the problems that he has to face as he struggles to get respect from others not only in the community, but also among his brothers in blue. Now he reflects on history from his family's point of view.**

* * *

"All the back of the watch had engraved on it was _To Tom From Lizzy With Love_ and the date of May 10th of 1922," Judy said to the two officers who were sitting with her at the breakroom table. Her nose was slightly twitching and her right paw drummed on the table like she usually did when she was frustrated. "Who was Tom and who was Lizzy?"

"Not much to go on," Nick replied as he casually poked at his salad, spearing the one of the roasted crickets and chomping upon it with a satisfying crunch. "Good salad!"

"I don't know how you can eat that stuff?" Benjamin Clawhauser chuckled. The large overweight cheetah had carefully arranged a layer of sliced dill pickles on top of his tuna fish sandwich and licked his muzzle with anticipation. Picking up the sandwich, he hesitated before taking a big bite and looked over at the rabbit who was now picking at her salad. "You know my great-grandfather was named Tom and my great-grandmother was named Elizabeth, weird huh?"

Judy's ears shot up as sat her fork down and looked over at the large cat, watching as he bit down with gusto on his sandwich. "Your great grandfather Tom, how did he die?" she asked in a curious tone.

The cheetah sat his sandwich down and leaned back as he looked at the ceiling, thinking for a few minutes. "I don't know?" he finally answered. "My grandfather said that he ran away and abandoned his family, but I don't think anyone really believed that. Aunt Betsy always claimed he was killed by either the cops or the mob."

"Figures, it was probably the cops," Nick snapped out. The fox had set his salad aside since he had eaten all the crickets, along with the dried silkworm pupae, and was staring at the remainder with a look of distaste. "They did things like that all the time."

"Nick what a terrible thing to say!" Judy objected. Her ears were erect again and her nose twitched faster with frustration as she stared at her best friend and partner with surprise.

"Of course they did Carrots!" the fox replied, he almost growled at the rabbit and then sighed. "Look Fluff, back then your family was probably safe and sound living on their hick farm in the middle of nowhere. My family tried to make a living here in the city, it was better than being sharecroppers for some damn rich landowner like your old buddy Gideon Grey's family was probably doing back then."

"Gideon's family has their own farm!" Judy scoffed back at the fox before she took another bite of salad. "I can remember my father saying they bought it from the O'Thumpers back during the sixties."

"Oh my poor naive little bunny, I bet before that they were sharecroppers," Nick stated without any of his usual teasing. Judy's ears twitched at the sarcastic and bitter tone in his voice. "We foxes rarely owned land."

"So Nick, what did your family do for a living back then?" Clawhauser asked as he wiped the crumbs of his now eaten sandwich from his dark blue uniform shirt and reached over towards a box of donuts.

Nick leaned back and shoved his uneaten salad further from where he was sitting and it was quite evident that he was upset over the conversation because his ears were flat and he was frowning. After a few moments, he quietly answered the question, "My great-grandfather owned a billiards hall, one of the nicest in the town where they were living at the time."

"A pool hall! That might explain why you became a hustler Slick," Judy laughed out until she saw the sad look he gave her.

"Have either of you heard of the Happy Town riot of 1926?" he asked as he slouched further down in the chair. Without waiting for an answer, he continued his story. "The union workers were trying to organize the huge woolen mills and the owners were dead set against it. It started with a lock out and then the protests turned to violence when the cops were called in to clear the streets. My great-grandfather was rather successful, with a nice place called Wilde Times Billiards over in the pred district. He was also an outspoken critic against the infamous Purity Laws which were used to keep us preds in their place. Who really believed that the city would provide separate but equal facilities? Even today we are always short changed in everything, including fair justice. When the violence spilled into the neighborhood, his place was torched and burned to the ground."

"That's terrible!" Judy cried out and reached to put a paw on her friend's arm.

Nick pulled his arm away and it made her frown. "No, what was terrible was that my great-grandfather was still in the building and that his brother Frank made it out," Nick gave out a shuddering sigh. "They claim that the rioters lynched Frank from an old oak tree along with several other foxes and raccoons, but everyone knows the cops did it and not the union guys."

"I remember reading about that in history," Ben added as he put down his half eaten doughnut. "A hearing was called, but no one was really punished but the union leaders, they even praised the police force for their work restoring order too."

"Of course they did!" the fox snapped as he angrily slapped his fist on the table. "They restored order by shooting everyone they saw!"

"That was the Happy Town Police Force Nick," Judy tried to soothingly say to the fox. "Like the town, they are long gone and now it's part of the city."

"Happy Town failed during the late sixties Fluff," the fox sighed. "Things did get better after the Predator Rights marches and definitely once the courts overturned the Purity Laws in the seventies, but the hatred and prejudice is still out there or did you already forget Bellwether and her cronies?"

"Of course I didn't!" the rabbit sighed. "But things are going to get better and you Nick are an important step towards that better future, so buck up Slick and let's make the world a better place."

Nick didn't answer as he glanced down at her clenched paw and sighed before giving her a fist bump. Clawhauser looked at the two other officers with concern before deciding to change the subject. "Well I heard that Fangmeyer is up for detective," he cheerfully added. "He passed his tests and I saw his paperwork before it went to Chief Bogo. Maybe one day you'll be up for promotion for detective Nick, wouldn't that be really neat?"

The fox shoved his chair back from the table and stood up. "Yeah, sure it would be really...neat ," he muttered almost to himself. "Like they'd really let a fox become a detective, they barely put up with me as a street cop."

Judy frowned as the fox tossed his uneaten salad into the garbage can before he wheeled around and without another word walked out of the breakroom.

"I've never seen him get this depressed over a case before," she sighed as she cleaned up her trash and hopped off her chair. "He gets angry sometimes when others treat him like he's…he's…oh snap! When they treat him like he's only a fox, but he always gets over it and is soon back to his usual charmingly obnoxious self."

"You're not a predator Judy," Clawhauser replied as he closed the half empty doughnut box. "I know you try, but you can never really understand the way we sometimes get treated. Remember when they kicked me downstairs to records because I wasn't the image they wanted to greet someone who came into the building?"

"That was during the Night Howler's case," Judy sighed as she dumped her trash into the garbage. "They put you back up front after it was over."

"It's just, after all the years working with Chief Bogo, I thought he'd go to bat for me more than he did," the fat cheetah sighed. "Instead he just made excuses."

Judy hesitated as she stood in the doorway and turned towards her larger friend. "That wasn't entirely the Chief's fault and you know it," she sniffled with tears in her eyes. "That was mostly my fault Ben, me and my big mouth."

"Judy!" Ben called out to her as she walked down the hallway.

She found her partner slumped over his desk as he looked at the broken and battered watch. "Nick…" she started to say, but he leaned back and gave her a genuine smile and not the usual smirk he did when he was faking.

"I got a little melodramatic back there Carrots, but life moves on!" he cheerfully said as she put her paw on his arm. He didn't pull away this time and even fondly chuckled when she laid her head against his shoulder, her touch and her scent had become somewhat reassuring to him over the past few years. "You know how emotional we foxes can get sometimes."

"Silly fox," she replied with a small giggle.

"So we've got a long dead male cheetah who might be named Tom," the fox continued as he leaned forward again, he smiled when the rabbit refused to let go of his arm. "Gunned down sometime in the Roaring Twenties…hey Carrots, did your farm even have electricity and plumbing back then?"

"I have no idea Slick," she laughed more with relief that her friend was back to being his usual self, than at his question . "Could you imaging two hundred rabbits using an outhouse?"

Nick joined her in laughter as he absentmindedly picked up the watch and wound the crown on top, almost dropping it when he heard it ticking. "Hey Fluff, it still works!" he called out in an amazed voice before looking closer. "But why is it running backwards?"

A tingling feeling shot up his arm and he heard Judy shouting something as suddenly everything began to fade to black.


	3. Somewhere in Time

**Chapter 3: Somewhere in Time**

* * *

 **A watch that runs backwards, that can't be a good thing!**

* * *

The fox groaned as he awoke and tried to focus his eyes despite the throbbing headache he was feeling. Slowly he brought his right paw up to his forehead and grimaced at the woozy, almost drunken sensation that he was experiencing. His ears lifted at the sound of someone vomiting nearby. "Is that you Carrots?" he weakly croaked out. "Are you okay?"

"Outside of feeling like I rode a roller coaster backwards for six hours, I'm fine," Judy quipped as she unsteadily stood up and wiped her mouth with the back of her paw. "So much for my lunch."

Nick tried to focus on the amethyst eyes that now peered down at him. "I haven't felt this way since after that wild party that Finn dragged me to on the Southside last year," he grunted as he accepted her paw and then her arm around his waist as he stood with another groan. "Any idea what happened to us?"

Judy looked around and realized that they were in an alleyway between two red brick buildings. The grey dirt below her feet was heavy packed with only a sprig or two of weeds growing, there also were a couple of trashcans which were silvery colored and appeared to not be aluminum, maybe they were galvanized steel like the old farm buckets? Her ears shot up when she heard Nick gasp and turned to see where he was looking. "Carrots, that's an old Furred Model TT truck and its almost in mint condition!" he exclaimed.

Following Nick down the dirt alleyway and out onto the sidewalk, the rabbit looked around in disbelief at the buildings around her. A number of them looked familiar, but most she had never seen before. There were also several mammals in old fashioned looking clothes staring at her and her partner. "Nick, were are we?" she asked, but the fox just stood there looking dumbfounded.

Finally he shook himself as if he had just stepped out of the water and was wet, her ears shot up when she heard him mumble, "The question isn't where, it's when!" He looked down at her in a panicked manner. "Fluff I think we went back in time somehow! I don't understand what is going on? I don't want to be here…not...not now…not this time in history! W…w..we've got to get out of here and get home!" She watched as he pulled out his phone and desperately tried to make a call, she pulled her own and frowned because there were no bars showing.

"Nick we can't have traveled in time, that's impossible and you know it," she said with a sigh as she put her phone back in her pocket. The fox looked like he was about to hyperventilate, so she reached out her paw and slowly rubbed his arm. His eyes were wide and he looked upset as he stared around them with his ears folded back in panic.

"No…no…no this is the city, but in the past. Look ! Look! There's the building were Saul's Deli should be and that Five and Dime Store is where the Snarlbucks is located. Somehow we got sent back in time!" he whimpered. "We've got to get out of here and go home…please gods…please!"

"Nick, calm down!" she softly said as she pulled herself into his arms. "We're together and we will figure out what someone is doing to us, this can't be the past."

"Gods, Judy it has to be!" Nick whined out as he continued to panic. "Pinch me…wake me from this nightmare!" She reached over and gave his side a punch. "OW!" he protested. "I said pinch me, not whack me in my kidney!"

She wanted to laugh at the look he now gave her, "Well it didn't work and besides maybe this is my dream and not yours."

"Nope if this was your dream I be a handsome buck in the buff," he sighed. "This is my definitely my nightmare Fluff."

"Why a nightmare?" she asked as she returned to rubbing his arm to try to calm him.

"I'm a fox in the Nineteen-twenties!" he whined out. "Do you have any idea how my kind were treated back then…I mean now?"

Before she could respond, there was a shout and she turned to see a wolf wearing a dark blue police uniform pointing at them from across the cobblestone street as he hurried in their direction. "You two stay right there!" he commanded. His clothing reminded her of pictures she had seen of the old ZPD uniforms from the middle of the last century, he had on a dark blue wool tunic with a high straight collar and a white "Sam Browne" style cloth belt that held a stout wooden truncheon and a revolver.

"Just what are you two doing running around dressed like that?" the wolf snapped at her. "You should know better than going around in this part of the city looking so indecent and in the company of HIM!"

Nick frantically looked around as the larger officer approached him, he saw a advertisement plastered on a wooden electrical pole across the street and he prayed it was a good answer. "Sorry Mister Officer…Sir," he mumbled as he submissively lowered his muzzle to the larger canid. "We are with the fair and got lost."

The wolf gave the fox a look of disdain. "Is that true miss?" he politely asked Judy, totally ignoring Nick.

Her ears were now erect and she frowned in anger at the wolf as she prepared to give him a piece of her mind about his being disrespectful, but she saw Nick's panicked expression as he shook his head and mouthed the word NO. Calming down, she finally answered the officer's question, "Yes officer we are and could you please give us directions?"

The wolf smiled at her and chuckled as he stepped back and looked them both over now in an amused manner. "Are you dancers?" he asked her. "What's with the dressing up to look like some kind of coppers?"

Judy daintily put her paws together in front of her and sweetly smiled back at the officer. "We are dressed to look like the way the police might appear in the future," she replied.

"They would never let a doll, let alone a cute little bunny like you ever become a copper!" the wolf chuckled and then looking at Nick, he added. "Never mind that, they would ever never let a mangy fox become one either!"

"Yes sir!" Nick meekly replied leaving his muzzle submissively lowered again. "Yes sir!"

The wolf quickly grabbed the fox's arms and pushed him into the alley, so that they were now out of sight of the other bystanders who had gathered to watch the spectacle. "You must not be from around here boy, so I'll give you a break!" he whispered to Nick. "This isn't the side of town where your kind is welcome and you need to get the hell out of here before trouble starts. I don't want a fellow candid getting hurt or even killed on my beat. Things are tough enough getting any respect because I'm a wolf, they've just let some of us become coppers! You two got any cash?"

Nick shook his head no because he knew any money that they had would be too modern. He tried not to give a disgusted look at the wolf, because the fox figured they were being shook down by a corrupt cop.

"Too bad, so the trolley's out. Let's get you two a ride across town to the fairground, maybe Old Sam will drive you that way when he makes his delivery run?" the officer added before he turned and walked back towards the street.

"What's going on Slick?" Judy asked as her nose twitched in frustration. "Why are you acting like you are afraid of him?"

Judy, I am…" the fox began, but he hesitated before sighing and then continuing. "I think we are back in 1925, the year of the great World Exposition and back then my kind was expected to act this way. It's just how society and the law treated predators and especially us foxes. Remember earlier when I told you about the Happy Town Riot? That is going to happen in less than a year from now! That's when they murdered my great-grandfather by burning him alive in his own store and lynching my great uncle."

A few minutes later the wolf reappeared and looked somewhat please with himself as he announced that Old Sam, who must have been the ancient looking goat in the dirty looking broadcloth shirt and canvas pants that was standing next to him, was willing to drive them to the fairgrounds if the fox helped him load and unload his wares.

"You boy, load these crates!" the crusty old goat commanded the fox. "Get moving boy, I don't have all day!"

Nick wanted to growl that he was a full grown fox and not a "boy", but he knew this wasn't the time or place to get into that argument. The stories that his grandfather told him about how life was before and during what they called the turbulent times, before the Predator Civil Rights movement, ran through his mind. Instead, much to his partner's apparent aggravation, he muttered "Yes sir" and got to work.

It took about twenty minutes for Nick to load the crates of produce into the back of the old pickup truck and then help the goat crank the truck to life. Satisfied that everything was secured, the elderly billy goat finally baahed out "Let's go!"

Nick held the door for Judy who crawled into the seat next to the dirty driver and began to climb in. "Hey, what do you think you're doing boy?" the goat snapped. "Your kind rides in the back, not upfront!"

Nick clutched his paws into tight fists, but then looking over at the uniformed wolf, who was closely watching him, he lowered his head and muttered, "Yes sir."

After he climbed into the back with all the crates and settled down into a relatively clean spot, he leaned back and closed his eyes. There was a slight thump on the truck's side and he opened his eyes to look over at the police officer who was staring at him. "You did good fox," the wolf gave him a slight smile as he whispered. "I know you're not from around here, but just do yourself a favor and remember this is the way things are and you can't change them. We can only hope that life for our kind can only get better one day, right?"

Nick smiled back and for once instead of answering "yes sir", he softly replied, "I know they will and trust me when I tell you that someday a fox will wear that uniform."

The wolf gave a sad smile and nodded before slapping the side of the truck to let its driver know that he could leave now.

Officer Peter J McGrowl pushed his blue peaked hat back from over his forehead and watched as the truck bounce its way down the cobblestone street, little did the beat cop know that his grandson would one day became one of the city's leading civil rights lawyers and co-founder of the Predators Anti-Defamation League.

The fox grunted as the truck hit a pot hole, inside he could hear the goat happily chattering away with Judy, the rabbit could barely get a word in reply. As they reached the top of a hill, he could see the Great Wall to the east of them. Even though it was far from being finished, it still towered high above the buildings that surrounded it. Remembering his history lessons, he knew that the wall was not completed until after the World War in the 1940's. The Great Depression of the 1930's brought construction to a halt for several years before Mayor Roosavent was elected and the charismatic kangaroo made it the hallmark of his New Deal work programs, even then it still was not fully operational until 1968.

Before the wall stood the tall skyscrapers built during the city's boom time before the Great War and he could not help but smile knowing how these would be dwarfed in the future by the Twin Horns Towers and the ZNN Center, among the many other glass and steel structures yet to be built. For now, the tallest building was the iconic sandy colored 48-story Merchant's Trade Center with it's unique dome top, next to it he could see the even taller 56-story Packherd Building still was under construction, and beyond that was the massive Art Deco style Bushner Center.

A droning sound made him sit up and he stared at awe at what had appeared in the distance. "It's an airship, the largest I've ever seen!" he muttered to himself as he stared as the large grey vessel churned its way across the sky. Nick had seen several dirigibles which were used to lift cargo from one side of the city to the other and were even used by the police air unit to patrol the skies above the city, but this was five times larger.

The goat stopped the truck and leaned over the rabbit to point at the airship, "That's the new ZSS Shedoe and she's the largest of her kind, at least until they launch the Giraff Von Hideyberg overseas."

Judy looked back to check to see if Nick was okay and had to giggle at the look of awe that fox had on his muzzle. Every once in a while, the fox would sit up and excitedly watch another automobile on the road.

The goat too noticed Nick's excitement and chuckled. "That boy ain't from around here is he?" he asked his passenger. "He looks like a toddler in a candy shop, as if he hasn't seen many cars before."

Judy looked up at the driver and sighed. "We're from Bunnyburrows, my family has a farm up that way," she replied. "So Nick hasn't really seen these kinds of cars before, except on TV."

"What's a TV?" the goat snorted. "Is that some kind of newfangled moving picture show?"

Judy slightly blanched when she realized her mistake, she remembered that televisions would not be commercially available until thirty years from now. "Yeah it's a moving picture show," she lied.

Nick was fascinated watching the cars on the road, a Packherd rumbled by full of deer and it was followed by a well dressed bear driving a stylish Herdson Phantom **.** There were automobiles that Nick had only seen in magazines or at antique car shows. As the truck slowed on a small hill he peeked around the boxes and his eyes widened as he saw before them the huge fairgrounds and the billboard which read "WELCOME TO THE 1925 WORLD'S EXPOSITION & FAIR."

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **A Furred Model TT is the Zootopian version of the Ford Model TT 1 (short) ton truck, which itself was based on the famous Ford Model T and was in production until 1927. Packherd is based on the luxury car manufacture Packard. Herdson is of course based on Hudson, who made a range of quality six cylinder sedans.**

 **The ZSS Shedoe is similar to the USS Shenandoah, which served in the US Navy from 1923 until its crash during a thunderstorm in September 1925. The Giraff Von Hideyberg is a Zootopian version of the ill-fated LZ 129 Hindenburg.**

 **Mayor Roosavent and his New Deal mirror US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.**


	4. Let's go to the Fair!

**Chapter 4: Let's go to the Fair!**

* * *

 **Judy and Nick arrive at the 1925 World Exposition & Fair which was built to highlight the growing modern metropolis of Zootopia. **

* * *

After driving into the service only entrance, the black Furred Model TT truck rumbled behind a tall building which was built to resemble an ancient pagoda, where they were greeted by several large black and white panda bears in elaborate deep red and gold silk robes. "You are late!" one of the bears snapped to the goat, his voice had a thick almost musical foreign accent. "We need to get this truck unloaded quickly into the kitchen." The two bears started carrying the crates of vegetables toward the back door of the building.

"Give them a paw boy!" the billy goat yelled to Nick as the fox jumped out of the back of the truck and after hesitating for a moment, he helped carry a box into the building. He looked around inside the kitchen and at the dozens of panda bears who toiled over enormous iron woks heated by huge charcoal fires. They were stir-frying vegetables for the steady line of customers waiting outside. The fox frowned when he noticed that the decorative room in front of the building was full of gaily dressed prey mammals, but there were no predators in the crowded dining room. Robed red pandas carried trays of food, tea, and drinks as they rushed back and forth to serve the patrons. A small band of goats and hogs played melodic traditional Amir music from a stage set in the middle of the room and it reminded him of the many restaurants he had eaten at in the city's section Savannah Central nicknamed Little Amir. When he turned to return to the truck, he realized that there was an outdoor area with simple wooden tables in the back where the predators were being served. "Separate but equal, my tail!" he softly huffed to himself. "They don't even get a band."

"Come on fox, get your tail moving!" the old goat yelled at him from the driver's seat of the truck. "I ain't got all day boy!"

"BOY!" the fox cursed quietly to himself as he picked up another box. "I'm no boy, you jackhoofed old turd!"

One of the red pandas must have heard him because he turned to stare at him, but the foreigner did not say anything and instead he gave him a look of compassionate understanding. Nick sighed as he brought the box inside and left it with the others. "They treat us with contempt too," another large white and black furred panda in a cook's smock whispered with a sad smile. "We can build their railroads and they expect us to do their laundry, but we are still just foreigners even if we are born here. Come back anytime to eat, we discount the meals for those of us who are despised by charging more to those who act like they are our masters."

"Do you make Egg Foo Young?" Nick asked as he wiped dirt off of his uniform. "You know eggs cooked with bean sprouts, cabbage, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and crickets?"

"Ha, of course we do!" the panda laughed. "We just don't call it that, what a silly name?"

"It's easy to remember," the fox shrugged as he gave him a smile.

"Egg Foo Young?" the panda mouthed the name. "It does have a bit of simplicity to the name. Maybe it we will start calling it that too? Egg Foo Young! Yes, I like that name!"

As Nick left the restaurant to join Judy near the truck, he didn't see the panda write the name Egg Foo Young on the predator side's menu board. Unknown to the fox, he had just given name to his favorite Amir dish.

"Welp, I'm off!" the old goat called over as he waved to Judy. "Good luck to you little lady and keep that boy out of trouble."

Judy sighed as she watched the truck rumble away, leaving them inside the fairgrounds with no idea of what to do next. It was then that her eye caught sight of a brochure that was blowing on the ground and she rushed over to pick it. "Hey Nick," she called out to the now somewhat dirty looking fox. "Here's a map of the fairgrounds." Nick slipped up next to her and looked over her shoulder. "They laid out the fair to represent each of the different districts which will be built when they finish the wall!"

"We're supposed to be in the Savannah District, but it sure doesn't look anything like what it will become," the fox commented as he looked around. "Look at Tundratown! There is a big building that is air conditioned and it says they even have an indoor skating rink. I'll bet these yahoos have never felt cold air during the summer before!"

"Well the first thing we need to do is change out of these clothes," Judy continued. "There is a theater over off of the main boulevard. Maybe we can ah… _borrow_ …a few more suitable clothes in there?"

"We'll need some cash too!" Nick mused as he scanned their surroundings. The pair was attracting too much attention dressed like they were and he looked around for somewhere more private.

"Oh I've got some lettuce," the rabbit answered as she held up a wallet. "Having a partner who is a ne'er-do-well must have rubbed off on me? I picked the goat's pocket."

"Where did you come up with a term like ne'er-do-well?" the fox chuckled. "And lettuce…really Carrots, what is it about you always referring to produce? I would guess that it's because you're a farmer's daughter?"

"I want to speak like they do during this time in history," the rabbit replied with a shrug as she grinned up at her partner. "As for being a farmer's daughter, I am that indeed."

"I think that ne'er-do-well predates this generation Fluff," the fox laughed. "I'll give you a pass on your using the word lettuce for money, although I think they may have called it cabbage?" He hesitated and then with a grin quickly added, "You do know what they say about the farmer's daughter?"

"Don't go there Slick! I've heard the jokes too and this rabbit isn't that kind of girl," Judy continued with a laugh. "So let's blow this popsicle stand and find us some new rags, before someone calls a flatfoot."

"Really Fluff, did they even have popsicles in the twenties?" the fox chuckled as he happily followed his partner down the street towards the theater. The path took them down towards Sahara Square with what somewhat looked like a Saharan bazaar or market, with stalls upon colorful stalls of merchants calling out to visitors as they sold their wares. Beyond that they could see the lodge tents belonging to a tribe of coyotes, the canines were in their traditional striped or checkered cotton ponchos and wore long beaded and feather earrings hanging off their right ears. The steady sound of thumping drums and reed flutes fill air as several of the coyotes demonstrated one of their dances for an audience.

The two friends gawked at the many sights as they made wandred down one of the avenues towards the huge ornate auditorium that arose in the distance, the imposing marble and granite structure was the hallmark of the whole fair and its signature piece. "It's hard to believe that all of these building area gone, including the auditorium itself?" Judy said as they continued past what was supposed to represent a Western groundhog settlement.

"It was or I guess I should say, is built on reclaimed swamp land Carrots," Nick shrugged. "Most of the ground became unstable and couldn't handle the weight of the buildings and so they had to be torn down. After the Wall was in place all this became part of the Rainforest District and is now one of the city's industrial warehouse sections. Don't tell me that you have never seen the display about the Expo at the Museum of Science and Industry?"

"Nope, she replied with a smile. "After what Bellwether tried to do to us at the Natural History Museum, I haven't had much interest in museums. " She stopped and with a skip in her step turned back to face the fox with a smile before adding, "Except for the Crime Museum at ZBI Headquarters."

"That figures!" Nick grunted as he reached over to ruffle the fur between her ears, but hesitated when he suddenly remembered when they were and that his doing so would be totally considered as totally inappropriate. He sighed as he let his arm fall to his side and continued walking. "Come on, we need to hurry and find something else to wear because I'm getting the evil eye and disgusted looks for dressing like a cop."

Judy turned around and noticed a trio of young rough looking young rams looking their way. She put her paw on her tranquilizer gun, almost daring them to make their a move against Nick.

"Dar you two be!" a plump looking grey fox in a snazzy three piece charcoal grey suit called out towards them as he hurried to their side. "You be late boy and you little Miss need to change before yer act begins!" He grabbed Nick's arm and directed him down a side street away from the rams.

"Who are you?" Judy asked as she hurried after the two foxes.

"De guy who's gonna keep yer buddy here from gettin hizself hurt," the grey fox snapped back, as he glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were not being followed. "My name is Amos, Amos B. Greyson from down South and I got one question fer you two…ARE YOU TWO CRAZY?"

* * *

 **Author's notes & a Disclaimer:**

 **I want to caution some of the readers that. as in the movie, this fictional story will challenge you concerning the real life treatment of others within our own society's history due to their race, religion, sex, national origin, and sexuality. I will try to keep it along the lines of the original work and make an effort to meet these challenges, while still keeping this story entertaining.**

 **Furthermore, I use the name of "Amir" in my story to represent Zootopian versions of our reality's Asian nations. When the panda's tells Nick that, "We can build their railroads and of course they expect us to do their laundry** , **but we are still just foreigners even if we are born here." This attitude mirrors the treatment of Asian immigrants in the United States, who by 1924 were legally being denied a chance for US citizenship and even prevented from owning land.** " **Do their laundry", is a dig at an old ethnic racist stereotype that the Chinese were only good as laundry workers.**

 **The coyotes represent some of the indigenous peoples, whose culture was first demonized as settlers expanded into their lands and then they were "removed" or sla** **ughtered because they were in the "path of progress." Later their culture was stereotyped and abused as being that of the "Noble Savage." 1924 was an important year, with the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act or Synder Act. This law recognized full US citizenship for the indigenous peoples, however a number of states still resisted these citizens from exercising their right to vote until 1948.**

 **To answer Nick question about Popsicles, Frank Epperson of California patented his idea of "frozen ice on a stick" in 1923.**


	5. The Other Bunny

**Chapter 5: The Other Bunny**

* * *

" _ **The past: a new and uncertain world. A world of endless possibilities and infinite outcomes. Countless choices define our fate: each choice, each moment, a moment in the ripple of time. Enough ripple, and you change the tide... for the future is never truly set."**_ **Charles Xavier in** **X-men: Days of Future Past** **.**

 **I don't know if I could like this Judy?**

* * *

 **Present Day**

"You've got a package Officer Hopps," the raccoon in the orange prison jumpsuit said as he tried to scratch under his shock collar, while he handed her a padded envelope with his other paw. She sighed as she watched him slowly hobble away before she tossed her meter maid cap onto the table along with the tacky yellow striped orange safety vest. Loosening another button on the top of her light blue uniform's blouse, the rabbit adjusted her weapons belt before she sat down on the oversized chair. With a disgusted groan, she threw her ticket book next to her discarded cap. The grey furred rabbit did not relishing spending the next few hours of her shift entering a day's worth of parking citations into the police network.

Leaning back in the old worn oversized chair, she rubbed her eyes and yawned. Her ears twitched at the beeping sound emitting from near her waist and she slowly drew her Mark 6 taser pistol before gently laying it too on the desk. Gently she pulled out the dying battery from its handle and after rummaging on top of the desk for a newly charged battery, she reloaded the gun and returned it to the holster. While she did this, she sheepishly looked around, hoping that no one had seen that she had allowed the gun's battery to almost run out. With all the recent layoffs of the experienced predators from the police department, there was a huge shortage in trained officers and now even the members of the Traffic Enforcement Unit were being armed with more than just a spray tube of fox repellent. Chief Bogo's strict policy was to keep your taser fully charged and ready at all times.

She sat the unopened package to the side and logged into the network so she could review her e-mails, her paw hesitated as she read one internal announcement which said that the department had just released another of the last few remaining predators still at the station. With a loud sigh, she shook her head in disbelief at the ridiculous idea that sweet pudgy Benjamin Clawhauser in Records could ever be a threat to anything that wasn't a doughnut. Looking around again, she found the flask in her desk drawer and holding it up towards the photo on the screen of the recently fired cheetah, she saluted him with the flask before taking a sip of the whisky inside of it.

"This isn't what I signed up for," she grumbled to herself as she looked down at the package. Zootopia was a paradise for everyone but predators, like the poor raccoon who continued his mail rounds. Most of the larger predators had been rounded up and "relocated", leaving a just pawfull of the less aggressive species to try to survive doing menial jobs. Judy looked down at her ticket book and sighed again, her hopes and dreams of being a real police officer had been crushed despite her outstanding record at the Police Academy. Now that Mayor Lionhart had been impeached, the newly promoted Mayor Bellwether had forgotten her as the ewe took a firm grip to control the crises by removing or neutralizing all the predators big and small before another one could go "savage" again.

"Ready to make the world a better place?" she huffed to herself. Gone was the naive little country hick bunny who came to the city with all her big plans and dreams, instead she was now an angry bitter rabbit. "Why can't anyone but me see that something is wrong with what is going on around here? You would think that they would wonder why this outbreak is only happening here within the city?" She pulled out her phone and scrolled for a picture of her parents standing next to a plump smiling red fox in a chef's apron. The fox named Gideon Grey, had been a childhood bully and had even scarred her when they were in elementary school, but after much therapy the fox had come to terms with his anger and was now one of the gentlest mammals she knew.

Putting her phone back into her pocket, she studied the padded manila envelope. There was no return address, just her name and some old postage stamps. Opening the package, she frowned at the sight of a broken pocket watch which was carefully wrapped in tissue. _Why would anyone send me something so useless?_ she thought before she saw and read the enclosed note.

 _Remember me Judy. You have to stop us and change back what was! Please Judy, wind the watch_.

The strange note was just signed _"Nick"._

"Who's Nick," she muttered to herself as she picked up the watch and looked it over. Tentatively, she wound the crown and was surprised to hear it began ticking. She looked at it closer and exclaimed in shock, "Why is it running backwards?" No sooner had she asked that question than a flood of long lost memories from a Judy who once was, or precisely never had been, poured into her mind along with those of another much better lost life and of the emerald green eyes of the goofy smiling red fox that once was...no is her best friend. Trying to stand, she became dizzy as everything faded to black.

Moments later, the rabbit's stomached heaved again as she knelt on the hard grey packed earth and she let out a groan. The small flask, which had been in her left paw, had dropped and spilled it contents upon the dusty ground next to her vomit, but her other paw still tightly clutched the odd watch. "Saints preserve us," a voice exclaimed from near her and she glanced up to see a timber wolf dressed in an old fashioned police uniform walking towards her. "For a moment I thought you were that rabbit who just left with the fox."

Judy sat back and frowned at the wolf. "Look buddy, I don't know who you are and why you're dressed like a cop, but you shouldn't be around here in that costume," she sighed as she slowly stood up and dusted herself off. "You're lucky that I'm with traffic enforcement, otherwise I'd arrest you. So tell me where the hell am I and how do I get out here?"

"Arrest me?" Peter McGrowl sniffed the air and then chuckled. "Now I don't know where you got the hooch during Prohibition, but you've must have been hitting the bottle pretty hard. Say...you wouldn't happen to be another dancer with the fair?"

"Look stupid, I don't know what your malfunction is but you better scram!" the small grey furred doe in the blue uniform snapped at the larger wolf as she pulled out her cell phone. "Keep bothering me and I'll call for backup."

"That's enough little Miss, now come along with me and I'll take you to the police station where you can rest until you sober up enough to get your wits back," the police officer replied as he reached for her arm.

Judy stepped back and her paw quickly snapped open the holster holding the can of Fox Off that she had attached to her belt. She swiftly drew it and sprayed it into the eyes of the menacing wolf. The results were not as debilitating to her assailant as if he was a fox, but still the surprised canine yipped in pain as he desperately pawed at his stinging eyes. Frantically, the rabbit ran past the larger predator as she dialed 911. She cursed as she shook her useless phone while she sprinted out into the street and frowned when she realized there was no signal. The rabbit jumped when she heard a strange loud "yuuugah!" behind her and dropped her phone when she saw that an antique car was barreling towards her, there was a sickening crunch as the car's tire crushed the plastic box as it rolled past her.

The rabbit stared in confusion at the buildings around her and all the mammals in vintage clothes that had stopped to look at her. "Sweet Cheese and Crackers, just where am I?" she whispered to herself. The sound of a whistle snapped her out of her shock and she turned to see the angry uniformed wolf running towards her. She prepared to run, but hesitated when she realized what the officer had said earlier to her and she turned and walked back into the alleyway to face him as her paw drew her taser. "This other rabbit and the fox, where are they?"

The timber wolf hesitated when he saw through his watering eyes, the weird boxy gun like looking object that the rabbit was pointed towards him. His head tilted in curiosity as the strange object seemed to crackle and pop. "Look buddy, I don't want any trouble," the uniformed rabbit said in as menacingly of a voice that a bunny could make. "Just tell me where the other rabbit and the fox went."

"Miss you need to …" Officer Peter J McGrowl began to say as he reached for his own gun but before he could draw it, he yipped in pain as the two electrified barbs hit him in the stomach and his body conversed as he doubled over.

"That was just the low setting," the rabbit snapped. "Now tell me, where did they go?"

The now scared wolf looked up at the gun which crackled and spit electricity. His ears were pinned back in fear and pain as he answered, "They went back to the World's Fair. Just who are you?"

"Just someone who is trying to stop a future no one wants to happen," Judy replied before she fired again. The voltage was enough to send the twitching wolf into unconsciousness this time. She reached down and checked his pulse, relieved that it was still strong. "Sorry friend," she sighed as she took his revolver and dug through his pockets for what cash the other officer had. "I'm going to need these more than you do."

Judy shoved the large revolver into her belt and looked around. "Now I have to get some new clothes so I can blend in with the crowd," she sighed as she watched an elderly hare hobbling down the street, the old lady was about her size. "I can't believe that I've already shot a cop and now I'm going to have to mug a senior citizen? You better be worth it Nick!"

Ten minutes later, the rabbit was dressed in a somewhat oversized flowery blue cotton day dress with a floppy straw hat as she boarded a trolley heading out of the downtown. In her paw she tightly clutched a straw purse which concealed the stolen revolver.


	6. Dancing

**Chapter 6: Dancing**

* * *

 _"_ _ **People assume that time is a strict progression of cause and effect, but**_ **actually** _ **from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of…wibbly wobbly…timey wimey…stuff."**_ _The Tenth Doctor Who_

 **Not knowing that the "other Judy" is on her way, the two friends confront a circus tent full of foxes.**

* * *

 **1925**

"ARE YOU TWO CRAZY!" the pump grey fox in the charcoal colored worsted wool three piece suit yelled at the red fox and the grey furred bunny. "Yoz two prancing around har all dressed in those silly outfits, if'n you two ran into any real coppers, they whack you two ways to Sunday and back again…you hear me boy?"

"Don't call me BOY!" Nick snapped at the smaller fox, his ears were elect and his bottom teeth were showing. Judy knew her best friend as going to finally snap and reached over to take his arm, gently rubbing to sooth him "I'm a full grown tod and I am tired for being call that by everyone."

"You an idiot or something? Yer moma drop yoz on yer head when you waz born?" the smaller fox huffed back, he rolled his eyes when he saw the rabbit holding the fox's arm. "Yoz two may be rolling in the sheets together, but don't you up and go a'shoutin at no prey like that, they'll whip the fur right off that mangy hide."

"Sorry, I'm not used to being treated this way. Where I'm from, you don't have to put up with being called that," the larger fox sighed. "As for Judy, she just a friend…no, she's my best friend…and we are not rolling in the sheets together."

"Sorry Miss that was mighty rude of me to and up n' say that about yoz," the other fox grunted to Judy as he led them into a back entry of a large white canvas circus tent. There was peppy jazz music playing and the sounds of laughter from inside. "I don't know where yoz two are from, but things ain't like that around these parts. Come on, yoz two will be safe here."

As the door opened, several foxes who were inside looked their way as the music and conversation abruptly stopped. Judy realized that they quickly looked Nick over before they settled on eyeing her with trepidation. "She's a friend," Nick called out. "She's not like the rest." The tension seemed to flow away after he said that and the other foxes returned to what they were doing.

"So what yoz two doin around these parts?" the grey fox asked. "Ya just can't come walking in lookin for work dressen like tha! Yoz got anyting to change into, wher's yer stuff."

"We were robbed on the train," Nick smoothly cut off Judy, her ears rose as she heard from that tone in his voice that he was about to work a con on the other fox. "Gab and run, you know the like."

"Ahh, to bad friend," the other fox sighed. "Been down that road a time of two meself. Let me see whot I can do fer yoz."

They watched as the smaller fox walked towards a table full of various sized vulpes.

Carrots look...look!" Nick suddenly exclaimed as he excitedly grabbed at her arm while pointing at a pretty reddish orange furred vixen who was in the crowd of foxes. "It's Josephine Barker!"

Judy's nose twitched in confusion, before she asked, "Who?"

"Josephine Barker is only the world's greatest entertainer of the 1930's!" Nick replied with a grin. "She does, or rather will do, this dancing act wearing only bananas. It will be legendary overseas!"

"Oh really, only wearing bananas?" the rabbit sarcastically replied as she looked up at her partner, who was still gripping her arm as he stared in awe. "You're a bit of a fan boy, almost like Ben is about Gazelle."

"Gazelle is just a pop star, but Josephine Barker is a legend!" Nick began to scoff, but he was cut off by a gravelly voice as a fat fox yanked his paw off of Judy's arm.

"What the hell you doing boy?" the smaller pudgy red fox snapped as he angrily slapped the larger fox's paw off the rabbit's arm. "You can't go grabbin' her like that, are you trying to get the rowdies worked up?"

Nick's eyes went wide as he looked down at the other fox. "You…you…you are Fatts Wily the jazz player!"

The other fox glared at Nick before he turned towards Judy, "I'm sorry miss about this fox's lack of proper manners, please forgive him. We don't want any trouble around here."

"It's cool, he's a friend of mine," she answered as she reached over and took the larger red fox's paw in hers. "I wasn't offended."

The smaller fox frowned at her and then Nick. "Sorry miss, but you two shouldn't do that in public," he sighed. "Proper folk won't understand and that'll cause everyone, including your friend trouble, they've lynched our kind for less."

Nick pulled his paw away from hers. "He's right Flu…I mean Miss Judy, it isn't proper and I'm sorry."

"Nick!" She protested.

"What does it's cool mean? Is that like the bee's knees and that other nonsense the younger folks are blabbering about?" Fatts chuckled. "Now excuse me, but I have to rehearse for tonight's gig." Judy's ears flicked when she heard the musician mutter, "It's cool...I like that...yeah, it's cool!"

"Don't you worry your sweet little head about old Pops," a red fox dressed in a black tuxedo laughed as he joined him. "None of us much care one cotton picking thing about what you do around here, you're with friends in here. Let's get you two out of those costumes and into in some new rags." He lifted Judy's paw and bent to kiss it. "My name is John Worthington Foulfellow, my friends call me Honest John."

"My name's Judy," the rabbit giggled as the suave fox guided the two of them into the back of the large room where there was a brown checkered suit and white dress shirt laid out for Nick and a sleeveless light pink silk blend, flapper style, crepe dress with darker pink lace on it for Judy. "Where's the dressing room?" Judy asked as she looked around.

"Dressing screens are over there sweetheart," a small elderly kit fox vixen joined her by the table. "I hope that this fits you, its cut for a fox and not a rabbit. These dresses are tubular in their cut, falling straight from the shoulders over a low flattened bust, so there should be no problems with that part of the dress. The felt drape hat has no ear holes, so it should fit. The only thing that concerns me is you tail, or sorry about saying this, your lack of a full fluffy tail."

"Her tail looks just fine to me!" Nick jokingly called out from behind one of the screens. "For a rabbit, that is!"

"Har... har...fox!" Judy called back as she followed the vixen towards another set of screens. "At least I don't have to worry about closing doors on mine."

Her comments were greeted by laughter from a nearby table of foxes.

"Hey show some support for a fellow reynard!" Nick called out as he stepped from behind the screen. Judy smiled at how dashing her companion looked in his brown checkered suit with its low cut double breasted waistcoat vest and a wide tie that was both red stripped and blue print patterned. It was definitely something which was different than anything she had seen him wear before. "Ta da! So what do you think Carrots…I mean Miss Judy?"

"It looks nice on you," she replied with a smile. "You look very sexy."

A fox at the nearby table choked on his drink when he heard her say this and her ears flicked when another fox whispered to his friend. "Are sure that those two ain't lovers?"

Jazz music began again and the rabbit watched as several couples stood up and began dancing. "What are they doing Slick?" she called out to the fox who was watching the others like if it was a dream.

"That my dear is called the Foxtrot," the suave red fox in the tuxedo answered as he offered his paw to her. "Do you happen to know how to waltz?"

"We don't do much more than square dancing where I come from," she giggled at the other fox.

"Of course my dear, come along and I teach you the basics," he replied as he gave her a slight bow. "That is of course, unless your friend objects." The fox looked over at Nick and gave him a smirk. "We foxes do get overly attached to those we care about."

Nick gave the other red fox a frown and then with a matching smirk, he shrugged his shoulders before answering, "I'm afraid I can't help you there Miss Judy, I can only do the shag and the hustle."

"Then you must learn darling," a voice replied from behind him and he turned to stare dumbfounded at the attractive vixen who offered him her paw. "M…M…Miss Barker," he stuttered out in shock. "You want to dance with me?"

"Of course silly," she gave a musical laugh to his question. "Come on Big Boy, I don't bite."

Judy glanced over as Nick was led onto the makeshift dance floor by the vixen. Her ears rose when he heard the fox holding her paw chuckle. "She don't bite unless he wants her to do so."

"I take it that your little cute friend is not a dancer?" the vixen asked the nervous reynard as he placed his paw onto her waist. "A little lower Big Boy and grip me much firmer…there you go!" Nick stiffened as he felt her hip under his paw and gulped. The vixen smiled as she shifted his paw to the correct spot. "Don't be so nervous!" she sighed. "I'm just another dancer, so what do you do for a living? Step forward…there...and now back."

The male fox began to relax as he got into the rhythm of the dance and as he did so, his confidence returned. "As little as possible, Miss Barker," he finally replied.

"Oh dear, you're not another flim-flam artist?" she teased him as she gave him a dazzling smile. "How FOX of you dear."

"Someone has to uphold our shady reputation," he laughed as they began to glide along the floor to the music.

"You're not bad at cutting the rug," she giggled. "In a few years, we might even make a dancer out of you yet. I think for now, I can get you a job in ticket sales."

"I could use the cash," Nick replied as she twirled around and then he pulled her back into his tightening embrace. "Have you even thought about taking your gig overseas?"

"Maybe one day," she replied as her brown eyes looked up into his green. "But for now, the song has ended and you can let me go."

His ears drooped and he tried not to blush. "Sorry about that," he sighed. "I was caught up in the moment."

"Later Big Boy!" she giggled as she sashayed away, then she stopped and looked back at him. "Tell Amos to put you to work at the ticket booth, I have a feeling that you have a silver tongue that you are hiding."

"Well fanboy, did you enjoy yourself?" Judy whispered as she stepped closer to him. "You only stepped on her paws twice."

"Bite me!" he snickered. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself with twinkle toes over there."

"Twinkle is right Slick!" she softly giggled. "I think he would have been happier with you in his arms. He kept asking about you and if you had a girlfriend."

"You did set him straight?" Nick anxiously whispered back. "He's not my type."

"I told him that you didn't have a girlfriend," she teased him and then anxiously looked up into his eyes before adding. "You don't do you?"

"Shut up Fluff," the fox snorted. "Who can find a vixen with you always underpaw?" He instantly regretted saying that when he saw the hurt look the bunny briefly gave him before she turned away

"Sorry If I cramp your style!" she huffed back. "Right now we don't have time for romance. We still have to figure out how to get back to our own time."

He reached over and pulled her into his hug, despite the looks of disapproval that the other foxes gave him. "Sorry Carrots," he whispered as she clung to him. "We'll find our way home."

* * *

 **Josephine Barker is of course the Zootopian version of the indomitable and legendary Josephine Baker, nicknamed the Creole Goddess, who was called "the most sensational woman anyone ever saw," by Earnest Hemingway. She started her career in the United States, but became a dancing and singing sensation in her adopted county of France. She is an icon of the civil rights movement, the bisexual community, and a war hero.**

 **Fatts Wily is the Zootopian version of the jazz pianist, composer, singer, and comedian Fats Waller. He could be considered one of the premier leaders of the Harlem Renaissance and composed one of my favorite songs,** _ **Ain't Misbehavin**_ **.**

 **Amos B. Greyson is an OC who portrays many of the Harlem Renaissance promoters, such as Leonard Harper, who gave much of the legendary talents their venues.**

 **Can any of you Disney fans guess what movie John Worthington Foulfellow is from?**

 **Judy's use of the word "cool" as a multipurpose slang word started in the 30's, but it didn't really become popular until the 1960's. It looks like the rabbit may have introduced it into fox slang.**

 **Thanks to Tinbuzzard1for the Doctor Who quote.**


	7. Small Packages

**Chapter 7: Small Packages**

* * *

" _ **Time travel. It's a cornucopia of disturbing concepts!"**_ _Ron Stoppable in_ _"_ _Kim Possible_ _"_

 **First we have a bitter Judy and now a rich familiar fox, what happened in the past that changed the future?**

* * *

 **Present Day**

The small fennec fox in the expensively tailored blue suit leaned back into the plush cream colored woven wool office chair and looked at the painting hanging by the door of his office. Fennick Fennecson came from a poor family living in the outskirts of Sahara Square in Zootopia, but as a youth an elderly red fox by the name of Nick Wilde befriended him. It wasn't until after he graduated from one of the finest universities in the nation, that Fennick realized that his mentor was grooming him to take over as the CEO of FoxCon, one of the nation's largest minority owned corporations. He looked back over at the painting and admired it. It was of the legendary Popocatepetl & Iztaccíhuatl, the barbarian looking grey warrior fox holding a fainted white vixen protectively in his paws. It had been painted by some street artist, whose name the small tan furred fox in the expensive dark blue silk and wool suit could not remember beyond that the artist's first name began with Cory. "That would have looked good on the side of a van," he chuckled out loud to himself.

Standing and stretching, the fox tucked his paws behind his slim back as he walked over to one of the tall skyscraper's windows and looked out at the city of New Gnu. Finnick was in a good mood today, because he just had finished a meeting with the visiting new mayor of Zootopia and had dropped a bombshell upon the bigoted ewe. His company's Research and Development was just now publically announcing that they had figured out why the predators in Zootopia were going savage and it was not biological. What they had discovered was that it was chemical terrorism, caused by a poison distilled from the plant Midnicampum holicithias, and his chemists had developed a cure. Looking back at his desk, he frowned at the reason for his company's incredible discovery, a small envelope which had been delivered to his desk last week. Inside was a letter from the company's founder, the long deceased Nick Wilde, outlining that not only was there going to be an outbreak of savage animals in Zootopia, but the cause of the outbreak. He pondered about the revelation that the letter contained and on how his mentor knew this was going to happen.

There was a slight knock on the door and he turned to look up as his receptionist, a sexy red vixen by the name of Shirley, entered the room. "He's here boss!" she simply stated before opening the door again to let a light grey furred hare wearing a stylish black suit into the room.

The fox smiled when he saw the hare's telltale black striped ears. "Agent Savage," he nodded as he offered his paw to the larger mammal. "Thank you for coming this afternoon, we need to talk about what is going on in Zootopia."

"About the savage predators?" the hare asked as he sat down upon the plush chair that was beside the one that the smaller fox had taken in front of the large oak conference table. "Congratulations for discovering an answer to that situation."

"That and what we have found out about the plot, courtesy of the company's previous owner Nicholas P. Wilde," Finnick replied as he set down a large manila envelope. "But first, I need to tell you a story about who Mister Wilde really was."

"We know about the murder and that he was a brilliant investor," the hare sighed. "Eccentric and charismatic, but are you telling me he knew about this plot even before he died?"

The fox frowned as he opened the envelope, "there are a lot of things about Mister Wilde which did not come to light until recently, he left it all inside of this package. What I am showing you is for your agency's use only and will be denied as being pure fantasy if it ever becomes public."

"There is much we know that will never become public," the hare replied as he picked up a grainy photo of a dead rabbit doe lying in the mud. "Wilde was accused with the murder of his companion Judy Hopps, our records show that he was probably a patsy and it was Al Capone, or one of his associates, who really murdered her."

"It was the then Chief of Police, Richard Ramsey who killed her," Fennick said. "At least that is what Mister Wilde claims in this letter and the reason why he fled to Pawaii to avoid prosecution."

"Where he made a small fortune in the stock market before selling everything the year prior to the market's major collapse in 1929," Agent Savage replied. "He then invested heavily in building a chain of what was considered questionable medical clinics, where he brought in top notch retired medical doctors to train the local islanders, and even foxes, to become nurses during the Great Depression."

"His clinics saved a hell of a lot of sailors and soldiers after the surprise aerial attack on the island's navel harbor in 1941," the fox spoke up. "Many of those nurses became corpsmammals and served with valor on the fields of battle which followed."

"We both agree that his advice to the government during the war is legendary," the hare grunted as he tossed the photo down on the table. "He made another fortune after the war and started this company. He was a brilliant mammal, so what are you trying to tell me Mister Fennecson?"

"Mister Wilde wasn't that brilliant," the fox nervously sighed. "He knew exactly what was going to happen, because he was from the future."

"Preposterous!" the hare snapped.

"Okay, then why does this letter predict that predators are going to go savage and that it is going to be because they are shot by pellets of refined Midnicampum holicithias fired by terrorist?" the fox asked as he tossed another letter over to the agent.

Savage picked up the letter and read it, setting it down before he looked back at the fox. "So Dawn Bellwether, the Mayor of Zootopia is behind this conspiracy?"

"That is exactly what Mister Wilde wrote twenty years ago," the fox replied. "He was right about the effects of the Midnicampum holicithias and their use by terrorist against the predator population."

"That's impossible!" Agent Savage muttered to himself. "Nick Wilde, the billionaire fox, really was a time traveler?"

"Yeah, that's what we figured," the fox sighed as he leaned back into his chair. "What's more disturbing is that recently his attorney sent a package to a police officer working in Zootopia named Judy Hopps."

"It can't be the same rabbit," the hare said as he leaned forward. "She can't be both dead in the past and alive in the future, can she?"

"Why not?" Finnick answered. "Maybe she hasn't been killed yet in the past?"

"What about another Nick Wilde?" Agent Savage asked as he pulled out his phone and hesitated and looked over at the fox, awaiting an answer before making his call.

"There is another red fox named Nick Wilde, but we can't find him," the fox answered. "The last anyone saw him was running from some polar bears in Tundratown, our investigator indicated that the mob has a contract on him because of a rug."

"A rug?" the agent mused as he looked down at his phone. "Who kills over a rug?"

"A rug made from the butt of a skunk," Finnick replied. "I guess the skunks didn't like what he did?"

"I guess they wouldn't, would they?" the hare flatly replied as he held the phone to his ear and waited for it to be answered. "Mary, pull up and send me what we have on a police officer in Zootopia by the name of Judy Hopps." Without even hesitating for an answer, he hung up and hopped off the chair.

"So what are you going to do about Bellwether?" Finnick asked as he slipped off his chair and followed the agent towards the door.

"We'll look into this," Agent Savage replied before he opened the door. "Along with your little story about the time traveling Mister Wilde."

The fennec fox slightly relaxed as he watched the agent leave his office. "Damn Uncle Nicky, what have you gotten me into?" he sighed as he walked back to his desk and picked up the photo he had of him and the old grey muzzled red fox.

* * *

 **1925**

Judy Hopps stared out of the trolley's window as it lurched down the street, she couldn't understand why she was so obsessed with trying to find the fox name Nick Wilde? The whole situation seemed like a bad dream, she had been pulled into the past, where she physically assaulted a police officer, and then forced a sweet little old lady to strip at gunpoint for her clothes. Her head pounded with the headache that had continued as she tried to close her eyes and relax. Gripping her head with her paws, she tried not to groan as strange memories flooded into her mind again. A fox…no not just any fox, but her Nick was laughing at her…no, with her. "Carrots," she whispered. "He calls me Carrots!"

A middle aged beaver in dark blue construction overalls, who was sitting in the row next to her, turned and looked at her with concern. "I'm sorry to intrude miss, but are you feeling alright?" he asked as he leaned over into the aisle. "You seem a bit peaked."

"I've just have a bit of a headache," the rabbit replied with a slight smile. Before she could finish what she was saying, the memories intruded into her mind again. She saw a handsome fox wearing a blue police uniform walking next to her, his paw clutched a Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee that smelled with a hint of blueberries. He was smiling as he asked in an amused tone, "Oh come on! You know you still love me?"

"Do I love you?" she muttered out loud. "Why yes, yes I do?"

"Pardon?" a voice spoke and she was startled back into reality. She looked up and saw the beaver was looking at her with concern.

"Sorry, I guess I got lost in my thoughts," she apologized. "I was thinking of someone I know."

"Ah, a suitor perhaps?" the kind beaver chuckled. "Someone who might be worthy of your affections, no?"

"Yes," she lied as she tried to look somewhat embarrassed. "He is supposed to meet me at the World's Fair."

"Of course," the beaver said with a broad smile on his face as he sat up straight and peered down towards the front of the trolley. "You should be able to see the fairgrounds once we top the ridge of this hill."

Judy sat up and stared in amazement at the sight which appeared before her, at all the grand buildings which were long gone in the future, torn down and victims of the city's ever-changing progress.

"I'm coming Nick," she whispered to the amusement of the kind gentlemammal next to her.

* * *

 **The Stock Market contracted and expanded several times between 1928 and 1929, before it crashed on October 29, 1929 and this date has been dubbed "Black Tuesday." Over thirty billion dollars, which was over 40% of the paper values of common stock** , **was lost during the next two days. It was this crash, along with a series of other financial, political, and** **meteorological disasters** **, which led to the Great Depression. With his knowledge of the foreboding future war, Nick would know to reinvest his fortune into companies such as Furred (Ford), Zootopia Steel (US Steel), and oil while their stock prices were still depressed.**

 **Too bad about the "other Nick," it looks like Mister Big is not as forgiving as he was in the movie. It seems our Nick rescued Finnick, but could not save his himself. Let's all hope he made it and didn't take an "ice bath"!**

 **Can anyone guess who the Cory is who painted the picture that Finn was admiring? If this Cory was a Zootopian, what kind of mammal would he be?**


	8. A Distraction

**Chapter 8: A Distraction**

* * *

 ** _"I foresee two possibilities. One, seeing herself thirty years in the future would put Jennifer into shock and she'd simply pass out. Or two, the encounter could create a time paradox. The results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's the worst-case scenario. The destruction however might be limited merely to our own galaxy."_** Doc speaking to Marty in _Back to the Future, Part II_

 **The other Judy arrives at the World's Fair, but gets sidetracked. Let us hope that if the two Judys ever meet, it doesn't destroy the universe!**

* * *

 **1925**

Nick had no idea where his new comrades had found him a tuxedo, but it fit like a glove, at least after a few adjustments from the elderly kit fox vixen named Mabel were finished. He stood out front of the Grande Cabaret building and called out to passersby, trying to get them to buy a ticket for one of the shows. The building behind him looked like an old Saharan temple with large faux stone statues of the ebony black jackal gods flanking the entrance and smoking torches that lit the mysterious entry, which led into the short "maze" that the guests would enter before they found the their tables in front of the stage. Since the city was in the midst of Prohibition, no alcohol was openly being served. The police, who periodically checked the club, went away with a small wad of cash while giving a blind eye to the special Pharaoh's Punch which was being served while Josephine Barker and other fox and vixen dancers did popular dances such as the Charleston, Lindyhop and Jitterbug to the ragtime and jazz played by Fatts and his band.

"Come on in to see the latest dances and the best jazz found anywhere in the world!" he called out to a herd of deer as they passed, but the bucks and does just gave him a disgusted look as they continued on their way.

"Pelts!" he heard someone huff out in a menacing voice. "Stinking up the fair."

The fox shrugged his shoulders as he looked around for another mark and he saw a black and white furred male rabbit dressed in a slightly oversized, rather old fashioned looking, brown high collared suit, with a brown stripped vest and a straw boater's hat. The young buck looked lost and nervous, and Nick knew that it was unusual for rabbits from the country to travel alone. "Hey pal!" he called out to the stranger. "We've got the best jazz music you've ever heard inside." The buck looked over at him, but without a word he continued walking away down the avenue.

A few moments later a couple of muscular red foxes showed up, they were dressed in dark blue workman's overalls and flannel shirts. "Ya'll got sumptin to drink in there?" one of the fox's whispered to Nick. "Ya'll know, sumptin strong nuff to cut the dust in ma gullet?"

"Try the punch," the fox replied with a wink as he took a half buck from them each. "You're just in time for the next show! Josephine Barker is going to do the fan dance." The two foxes gave him what could be called predatory grins as they pushed past him into the building. His nose wrinkled at their musky odor as they passed by and he sighed to himself, "Doesn't anyone ever take a bath around here?"

* * *

Judy clutched her bag tightly as she wandered down the streets staring at the sights. The lost rabbit had no idea where to find the fox named Nick. Her ears rose and twitched at the sound of yelling from two rough looking young rams, who had gathered around something or someone. "You should know better than to wear a straw hat in September, you hayseed!" someone with a deep male voice baaed out.

"Maybe the hick needs to be taught a lesson?" one of the other rams menacingly said. There was a crunching sound and she saw that he was munching on a straw hat. "What? I ain't letting something like this go to waste!"

On the ground at their feet was a disheveled looking black and white furred male rabbit wearing a rumpled brown suit with a tan stripped vest. "Hey, that was my favorite hat!" the buck objected. "What's wrong with you two?"

"You don't wear straw hats after September third," one of the rams grunted as he aimed to kick at the smaller rabbit with his foot hoof. "Didn't you learn anything from a few years ago? We ain't gonna be cheated out of money for our wool, so go buy yourself a nice felt winter hat."

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Judy snapped out as she marched her way towards the two bullies.

The two rams looked over at the small grey furred bunny in the slightly oversized flowery dress and laughed.

She glanced up at them and was reminded of a training session she had during police academy in which the instructor, Major Friedkin, had told the recruits, " _All mammals have a soft spot, such as the eyes, nose, or throat! If you have to defend yourself from a larger foe, strike fast or YOU'RE DEAD!"_ The rabbit knew that there was another soft spot that all males have and she brought her straw handbag, containing the hard steel revolver, up between the towering ram's knees and the larger male screamed in pain as he double over. Judy took advantage of the ram's posture by hopping onto his back and launching herself at his companion. Her foot paws slammed the other ram right between his wide surprised eyes. The rabbit had once knocked out a trained police officer, a rhino, during a training bout and so it was no surprise that the assailant crumbled back onto the hard paved street with a groan as she twisted, and with the grace of an Olympic acrobat, landed on her feet.

"It's your turn again Mutton Chops!" she menacingly snapped out as she turned towards the other assailant, who had regained his feet and was tenderly holding his groin with both his paws.

"No…no…sorry…sorry…" he baaed out in a panic as he looked down at his friend, who had just sat up and was groggily shaking his head.

"Good...now get the hell out of here," the doe ordered in an authoritarian tone as she picked up her bag.

"I don't think I've seen anyone fight like…oh, my…" the buck stuttered out before his ears blushed and he turned his back to her. "Your dress in back is shoved up and I can see your…oh my!"

Judy wanted to giggle as she adjusted the back of her dress and smoothed it down. "These are not the best clothes to fight in, are they?" she chuckled. "You can turn around now. I think I'm decent again."

The cute buck tentatively looked back at her and then relaxed. "I've never seen a girl fight like that," he began again and then he hesitated before adding, "I've never seen any rabbit, male or female, fight like that!"

"Well I'm off," She said as she smiled at him and he smiled back. "Please be more careful."

"Oh how rude of me!" he exclaimed as he stepped slightly forward and nervously offered her his paw. "I'm Rubin Warren from Bunnyburrow. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"It's just a mixture of rabbit foot boxing and red panda style Kung foo," she answered with a shrug. Something was swirling in the back of her mind as she looked at the handsome buck, where had she heard the name Rubin Warren before?

"Not to intrude, but might I ask the name of my savior?" Rubin asked as he smiled at her. His nose was cutely twitching with excitement and Judy could tell that he was struggling with trying to keep his right foot from thumping on the pavement.

"Judy Hopps from…" she hesitated because being from Bunnyburrow, he would probably know the Hopps family. "From a farm west of Beaverton," she quickly added. Before she could continue, her stomach intruded with a primal growl and she realized she hadn't eaten since lunch and had thrown up what she had in her belly earlier. She blushed and pulled at one of her ears in embarrassment, which only made the buck smile more.

"I can at least buy you some dinner," he offered. "I'm not supposed to meet the Grey boys until later tonight."

"The Grey brothers?" she asked.

"Ezekiel and Zachariah Grey," he answered as he offered her his arm in a gentlemammaly manner. "They're red foxes and are sharecroppers on my daddy's land. We brought a load of fodder for the restaurants."

She felt silly as she slipped her arm under his before they began to walk. "So are you driving back tonight?" she asked out of curiosity and then realized that the question might seem a little forward for this era. "I mean is it a long drive?"

The buck had tensed up at first, but relaxed when she finished her question. "The roads are a little muddy and it isn't an easy trip to do in the dark, so we'll camp out in the truck until dawn," he answered, before stopping and looking around at the buildings. "I offered you dinner, but I have no idea what these places cook? I mean they are all so foreign and exotic sounding to a county boy like me."

"They are also expensive," she giggled. He began to object, but she shifted the large bag into the crook of her arm before she also put her other paw on his arm. "Let's go over to the Saharan market and I'll introduce you to fattoush salad and baba ganoush."

"Who are they?" he joked. She giggled at his remarks which made him smile even more.

"Tush! You're such a tease," she gave him a soft sigh. "Those are foods, silly!" For some reason she was totally at ease with the male rabbit and enjoying his company. In the back of her mind she knew she had to find the red fox named Nick, but she just didn't want to do it right now.

"Now what exactly is baby granny?" he asked and laughed when she softly squeezed his arm.

"It's called baba ganoush," she answered with another giggle. "You are such an incorrigible goofball!"

"I maybe a goofball, but I'm with the prettiest lady at the fair," he answered and smiled when he noticed that she was blushing again. "Sorry, it might have been a bit forward of me to say that."

"I'm not worried," she replied with a grin. "After all, you do know that I can beat you up if you get too forward."

"Yes ma'am!" he laughed. "I'll behave myself."

She want to tell him that he didn't have to behave that much, but she bit her lower lip instead because she knew that wasn't a proper for a lady to say in the 1920s. He saw her face and smiled again, before they stopped in front of a large fountain. "So Miss Judy, do you have any idea where we are?" he asked. "I think we are lost."

Judy's ears drooped when she glanced past the attractive buck and saw a couple of menacingly looking warthogs in blue police uniforms walking their way, her right ear twitched when she heard one of the boars complain, "A rabbit, they've got us looking for a female rabbit? Do you know how many rabbits there are here tonight?"

"We're looking for a grey furred doe in a blue uniform, she shouldn't be that hard to find," the other police officer laughed. "Look, there are a couple of rabbits by the fountain."

She frowned as the two officers began walking towards them and then as she looked back at the black and white furred buck next to her, a scene from a movie flashed into her mind of a female spy telling a male superhero, _"Public displays of affection make others uncomfortable."_ Glancing over at the cops, she threw her arms over the buck's neck and pulled him into a kiss. At first he hesitated and started to draw back in surprise, but then his arms encircled her waist as he pulled himself back into her embrace.

The two officers looked at the kissing couple and laughed as they passed by because the buck's right foot paw was rapidly tapping the pavement and the doe's was daintily raised behind her. "Break it up you two, before we run you in for public indecency," one of the boars laughed over his shoulder.

They continued their kiss after the two officers left. Finally breaking their embrace, Judy stepped back and nervously pulled on her right ear. "Sorry, I got carried away…" she began to explain, but he reached over and took her hand.

"I didn't mind," he chuckled. "I mean...I rather enjoyed that! Now I did promise you some dinner, so let try this direction?"

She smiled and took his arm again, leaning against his shoulder. _Why do I feel so at ease with him?_ She thought as they walked down the street. Then she realized her headache was long gone, yeah finding Nick could wait until later.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Ruben suddenly said as he slipped his arm over her shoulder. "After we eat, why don't we go over to the Paramount Studio in the Rainforest section of the Fair? I heard that they are showing the new Felix the Cat cartoon and a short talking film with that grey fox Abby…I can't remember her name…but she is supposed to be signing some songs. I'd like to see a film with sound, wouldn't you? Can you, image what else they might come up with next?"

"Image that?" Judy answered, trying not to laugh because she already knew what was coming next.

* * *

 **Okay folks, the rams are alluding to a riot which started over straw hats being worn into the Fall Season and yes, it actually happened in New York City in September 1922! Back then, men were expected to wear hats whenever they were outdoors and the lightweight straw Boater was very popular. The social "rule" was that ladies did not to wear white after early September and men shifted to winter hats made from felt or wool. Gangs of young male "hoodlums" took it upon themselves to enforce the hat rule by attacking and seizing straw hats from anyone wearing them on the streets. The "Straw Hat Riot" culminated on September 13, 1922, when large gangs attacked factory workers in the Mulberry Bend section of Manhattan and then the Docks. The ensuing brawl grew so large that it blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and the police were called in to quell the fighting.**

 **Flex the Cat was a popular series of short cartoons that were produced throughout the years. From the late twenties into the early fifties, the cinema was a popular and affordable entertainment venue. All shows featured a cartoon or two after the newsreel and before the feature presentation.**

 ** _"Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable,"_** **was said by Black Widow to Steve Rogers (Capt. America) in the movie,** ** _Captain American: The Winter Soldier._**

 **The singer who Rubin couldn't remember was the Zootopian equivalent of the talented Abby Mitchell, star of stage and opera. She made a short experimental sound film named Songs of Yesteryear in 1922 for inventor Lee De Forest on his Phonofilm sound-on-film processing system. The first commercial "talkie" would be** ** _The Jazz Singer_** **, featuring Al Jolson, in 1927.**


	9. Beat Down

**Chapter 9: Beat Down**

* * *

 ** _"_** ** _History abhors a paradox."_** – Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

 **The cops come looking for Judy, but it just isn't this Judy and Nick pays the price.**

* * *

 **1925**

"Nice night!" a male voice spoke from behind him and Nick turned to face another red fox in a tuxedo. Honest John slipped a cigarette onto a thin fashionable tortoiseshell holder and frowned as he fumbled around for his lighter. "You got a lighter or some matches Nick?"

"Nope, I never smoked much," the other fox answered with a smirk. "It gives you cancer, you know?"

"Smoking does not such thing", Honest John chuckled as he walked past the ticket booth and out onto the street. "When done right, it shows you are classy and sophisticated."

"Sophistication when you're young," Nick replied as he yawned, trying not to show his teeth. "But you'll sound like a raspy frog in your old age, or even worse, just like Fatts!"

Honest John laughed and smiled back at his companion. Suddenly he glanced down the avenue when he heard some yelling, his ears drooped and his tail bristled as he looked down the boulevard. "SHIT! IT'S A RAID!"

Nick stepped out to join him and saw a group of police officers heading toward the building. The cops were being led by an angry looking hippo in a dark green suit and black bowler hat. Honest John shot inside the cabaret as Nick turned to face the police. "Well gentalmammals, how may I help you tonight?" he asked, trying to keep from panicking. The hippo didn't answer, but grabbed his arms and shoved him into the hoofs of a pair of cops behind him

"Get all the red foxes!" the detective bellowed as he charged into the room. "Find that rabbit!"

Up on the stage, Josephine screamed and quickly tried to cover her nakedness with the fans as the small army of police poured into the room, John's warning had come too late.

"Everyone but the foxes and rabbits get out of here!" the hippo commanded, sending the mostly prey mammal audience scrambling towards the doors. Picking up a glass, he sniffed the red punch and and asked, "What do we have here? Smells like moonshine, so it looks like I'm going to have to shut this place down!"

"Yoz can't do dat!" a commanding voice called out from the back of the building and Nicked looked up to see Amos standing with his arms crossed.

The hippo turned towards the much smaller grey fox and snorted, "I can do what I damn well want to do, BOY!"

The fox didn't flinch as he stared up at the larger detective and actually gave the hippo a grin. "Someone's on the telephone for yoz bozz," Amos lazily replied, trying not to snicker as he pointed at the old fashioned phone mounted on the wall of the backroom.

The hippo leaned over and picked up the receiver and spoke to whoever was at the other end of the line, his face darkened in anger before he slammed the receiver down. Turning towards the cops, be bellowed out, "Did you find the rabbit?"

"No sir," a uniformed warthog answered. "There are no rabbits around here. Don't bunnies and foxes hate each other?"

"Which one of you pelts is called Nick?" the detective said as he walked in front of the lined up foxes. "Come on BOYS, I don't want to make it hard on all of you."

Nick stepped forward and looked at the ground. He was seething in anger at the lack of professionalism that the police were showing. There would be no possible way that a police officer could act this way in the future because the city…no Chief Bogo, wouldn't stand for it. "I'm Nick," he flatly stated.

The detective stood over the red fox and glared down at him. "Where's the dame, the bunny?"

"Gone," Nick answered with a shrug. He didn't even see the hippo's hoof as he was slapped across the muzzle and the powerful blow sent him sprawling across the floor.

"Wrong answer pelt!" the detective bellowed out in anger. "Make him talk boys, but keep him alive. This fair is the mayor's pride and joy, so no one dies even if he's a just a damn fox." The hippo didn't flinch as he walked towards the backroom and even gave an evil looking grin at the sound of the fox's yipping as the blackjacks struck. "He'll talk!"

Nick did talk, but he just didn't say anything that the cops wanted to hear. The fox kept sarcastically talking to the point where they finally began to beat him just to shut him up, but he never betrayed Judy and they left him a bloody mess on the blood soaked tiles before they finally gave up.

"Don't move Big Boy," he vaguely heard Josephine say, but he couldn't see her because his eyes were swollen shut. "Oh gods! Someone get Doc!"

"Nick!" a voice called out in the haze and he felt a familiar paw touching his face. He tried to smile at the bunny before he passed out.

"Well he'll live," a bear in an opened collared white dress shirt growled as he leaned over the bandaged fox. "You do have to admire their skill because they didn't break one single bone while they were beating him down."

"Dinn't even chip none of his pearly white fangs either!" he heard Amos exclaim. "Last time they beat me, they up and busted out my two front ones and that's why I got these gold caps. Although the ladies say it gives me some charm."

"About the only thing charming about you fox," he heard Honest John snicker from across the room.

"They can't come walking in here and start beating someone for information!" Judy spoke out in anger. He could hear her foot rapidly tapping the floor in agitation. "There are laws to protect citizens from such…such illegal tactics!"

"Whoa thar little lady," Amos replied. "The rules don't apply to us preds, like they do you. Ain't a flatfoot would lay a paw on yoz, but us foxes…well it ain't the same. They can do wot they damn well please and ain't no respectable folk are going to raise a paw or hoof in protest."

"That still doesn't make it legal or right!" the rabbit snapped back. Her anger was evident not only from the tone of her voice, but the way she stood.

"It's like this all over," Honest John injected, while giving her a sad smile as he held up his left paw. She could tell that two of his digits were slightly crooked. "Cops broke my paw in Fillydelphia a few years ago. The damn bull said I was being sarcastic."

"You were dear!" Mabel laughed. "At least he didn't break your leg, remember what that dirt bag sheriff did to Sammy Bojangles Brown down on the Gold Coast, they laid that poor guy up for months. You can't work as a dancer if your leg is all busted up."

"Why don't you fight back and protest?" Judy huffed out in frustration over what she was hearing. "You have your rights!"

"Because I don't want to be another dashingly handsome fox hanging by his neck from a tree that is down some backwoods dirt road," Honest John sarcastically replied to the murmurs of agreement from the others in the room. "For every one of us…there are at least ten of you!"

Judy's ears drooped because she knew exactly what John meant by them and her, she knew that prey animals always outnumbered predators and that only the law protected the minority for the whims and abuse of the larger prey mobs. Deep in her heart, she was somewhat ashamed that it was her and Nick who brought down the city's first predator mayor, Leo Lionheart. "Sorry John," she muttered. "It's just so unfair. I would have tuned myself in if you and Mabel hadn't hauled me out of the back of the building."

"Unfair it is my dear," Mabel sighed as she brought another pillow over to Nick on the cot. "But life moves on and the best we can do is live and love. John and I weren't gonna let you get nabbed by the coppers, it's just not our way."

"But I didn't do anything wrong!" the rabbit protested. "They hurt Nick because of me!"

"C…Carrots!" Nick weakly called out as he tried to sit up, his head was still spinning from the concussion he had suffered.

"Lay back down boy," the kindly bear told him as he put a large paw on the fox's chest and pushed him back down. "Where are those cold compresses?"

"Sorry, it took time to get over to the ice rink and borrow some ice," Josephine replied as she looked down at Nick with concern. "They didn't hurt you too bad, did they Big Boy?"

"I've had worse beatings before," Nick lied. "I was in the boxing ring once with a rhino and he cleaned my clock the first time we sparred."

"Let Doc do his thing!" Amos called out. "We gotta to get back to work, the cops have set us back a purdy penny for the night. That means we all are gonna have to get more folks in here ta see de show. Girls we gonna need you ta do yoz burlesque routine, all da way down to the da fur." The vixens let out a disappointed moan, but didn't object much more. "Honest John, yoz get the boys out dar and let the right folk we got naked vixens and booze, let's fill da joint. Da bozz ain't gonna be happy if we don't make the take."

The portly grey fox watched everyone scramble out of the room and then looked over at Judy. "So da flatfoot waz look'n for a bunny wid a fox, so wad yoz do?"

"I didn't do anything," Judy protested as she took Nick's paw and held it. "We didn't do anything that the police would come after us for."

"You did heist the goat's wallet," Nick whispered.

"Picken a pocket wadn't bring that many coppers out after yoz," Amos grunted. "Musta bin supten else, come on fess up yoz two, what'ch hidden?"

"Tell him Fluff," Nick sighed and winched as the bear put a cloth with ice on his forehead.

"Fine Slick," she sighed as stood up to face the other fox. "We are from the future and somehow we got pulled back in time from the year two thousand and eighteen. I think we are supposed to keep the owner of this broken watch from being killed."

The fox gaffed in laughter at her remarks, "Sure little Missy, dat's rich, now whots the truth?"

"That is the truth…" the rabbit began to protest.

"Okay, the truth is that we are wanted for trying to rob a rich old geezer's place," Nick cut her off, with a chuckle as he lied. "We were desperate for some cash and screwed up."

"Dats more like it," the grey fox sighed. "Wad ya take?"

"Nothing, we almost got caught," the red fox continued. "Robbing you city folk's places isn't like the hick joints back home."

"So I reckon yoz mark put a buzz in da chief's ear and he sent his rowsters after yoz?" the grey fox replied as he went over to the cash box. "Dey won't be back har tonight, but dey might up an send a snoop to watch de joint. Come sunrise, yoz two need to hightail it outta here." He held up a few coins and tossed them to the rabbit. "Thar's yoz wages for de night, ain't much but I reckon but it'll get you a meal or two."

"I'll get our stuff packed Slick," Judy tenderly said to the red fox on the cot. "You just rest." She followed the grey fox and the bear out, leaving Nick alone in the darkened room.

The door creaked open and he winched as he turned his head to see who was entering the room, his eyes widened when he realized that it was Josephine and she was almost stark naked. "Well at least I know that the bunny hasn't taken all the tod out of you Big Boy," she whispered as she knelt next to the cot. "Look, we all know what's going on with you two and we understand. You are not the first fox to fall in love with another species, but you need to let her know."

"I…" Nick began to protest, but the vixen's kiss cut him off.

"Look Nick, tomorrow you two need to go over to Happy Town," she added as her paw stroked his forehead. "It's out of the city cop's jurisdiction and Catpone's control. Go see Patch at the Cottonmouth Club, he's with the Snapper's Gang and they control that town. Just let him know that I sent you, he owes me."

"Remember what I told you about going overseas," he whispered before she leaned over and kissed him again.

"Yeah, I'm booking out of here next week," she replied with a smile. "I'm sick of the way they treat us over here, so I've made arrangements overseas with the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées for a new act. I'm going there with a friend, a cheetah named Chiquita. You're welcome to tag along, even with the bunny."

"Thanks, but I'm almost old enough to be your father! You're only nineteen or twenty years old, right?" he chuckled.

"Tsk, I like older guys!" she giggled as she stood up. He admired her body as she turned to leave, giving him one last seductive wag of her tail before closing the door.

"And there goes a living legend," he sighed to himself before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Across the fairground, another Judy held a handsome buck's paw as the two rabbits strolled towards the theater. She was unaware of the calamity that she had caused Nick and the other Judy.

* * *

 **Chiquita was the name of Josephine Baker's pet cheetah, which sometimes accompanied her on stage.**

 **Honest John's comments parrot his society's popular belief that smoking was both healthy and sophisticated. The link between smoking and cancer was first established in 1928 by Schönherr from Chemnitz, who drew attention to the high rates of smoking among lung cancer patients. This was followed in 1935 when Fritz Lickint published a paper based on his earlier 1929 research which linked smoking to cancer. It wasn't until long after the next war that creditable research continued, leading the UK Doctor's Study in 1954 and then the US Surgeon General's Report in 1964, along with the subsequent lawsuits against "Big Tobacco" that followed.**

 **Nick underwent the "Third Degree", or interrogation by physical force (torture), as it became called by the time of the 1931 Wickersham Commission's study on police brutality in the USA.**


	10. Good Night Sweethearts

**Chapter 10: Good Night Sweethearts**

* * *

 ** _"The past, the present and the future, they exist as one, they breathe together."_** Annorax in Star Trek Voyager

 **The "other" Judy has a nightmare as Judy seeks familiar arms for comfort. A little sweet fluff to offset the previous chapter.**

* * *

 **1925**

Judy sat up in a sweat after her dream of the fox named Nick, it was all too real. Panting in fear, she laid back upon her cot in the flophouse that she had found just outside of the fairgrounds and mulled over what she remembered.

 _The red fox in the tacky green shirt and mismatched tie was growling as he crept at her on all fours while shaking the stuffing out of a fake deer mannequin with his teeth in a primitive manner._

 _Above her she heard an evil laugh and looked up to see Mayor Dawn Bellwether smiling down at her from the edge of a pit. "Gosh, think of the headlines! Hero Cop Killed by Savage Fox!" the ewe proclaimed as she pushed her glasses back up her snout with a hoof, she held some kind of gun in her other hoof._

" _So that's it?" she remembered asking. "Prey fears predators and you stay in power?"_

" _Yeah, pretty much," the ewe almost casually replied._

 _Glancing over at the approaching fox, she pushed herself against the wall before she called back, "It won't work!"_

" _Fear always works!" Bellwether triumphantly proclaimed. "And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way."_

 _Looking back at the fox, she saw his large teeth were bared as he stalked closer. "Oh, Nick... no..!" she remembered pleading as the larger predator loomed over her._

" _Bye bye, bunny!" the ewe triumphantly called out to her before Judy felt the fox's teeth closed upon her fur. For some reason, she didn't fear the fox as he bit down upon her?_

She had awoken with a scream, which disturbed the others in the cheap room where she was spending the night. Sighing, she adjusted the pillow and tried to think of other things besides the fox. Judy turned to memories much fresher and much more real to her.

" _I have to go," the handsome buck tenderly said as he stood once again in front of the fountain. She could feel his paw stroke her chin. "I would like to see you again Miss Judy, where do you live?"_

" _Here and there, I'm doing a bit of traveling," she replied. "But you're from Bunnyburrow, maybe I'll find my way there someday?"_

" _Make it soon," he sighed with disappointment. "I've never met a girl like you before, thank you for your company tonight. I truly enjoyed myself and I hope you had a good time too."_

 _She looked down at the paw, which he had extended, and shook her head as she stepped into his embrace instead and kissed him again. His arms encircled her waist as he pulled her closer against him and she felt for the first time in her life that was where she belonged. With a desperate sigh, she leaned her head against his chest. "I have to go," he finally whispered._

 _She stepped back and nodded as he walked away towards the parking lot. Tears came to her eyes as she remembered watching him leave and she felt emotionally hollow and empty again._

A crashing noise awoke her and she sat up as she heard shouting from the room below, male voices arguing with the proprietor. "Rabbit…police…search the premises!" she caught the commands being given. Quickly she gathered up her few belongings and stuffed them into the large straw bag as she pulled on her dress.

"You need to get oot!" a voice hissed in the darkness. "The bobbies are here lookin for a grey furred rabbit doe, is that ye?"

Judy looked at the highland wildcat who was standing there in her night shift. The cat grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the window. "Skedaddle before they bloody well get up here, so get oot the window with ye and dun the fire escape," the grey and black furred cat said in a thick borough.

She fled out the window, climbed down the fire escape and ran into the night beyond as she heard the sound of screaming behind her.

She panted in fear and tried to look around her in the darkness, she hated the dark because like all of her species she was mostly night blind. Night was the time of the predators and the thought of being hunted caused her to pant again in fear. Suddenly she saw the parking lot just outside of the fair's gates and a small fire next to an aged old Furred truck, stumbling she made her way towards what she hoped was sanctuary from this nightmare.

As the rabbit drew closer, she heard rough sounding voices laughing. "We didn't mean to up and lose you hopper, ya just a wandered off and then there was this joint that had booze and half naked vixens," a muscular red fox laughed as he was talking to someone who she could not see behind the truck. "And then the coppers raided the place looking for of all things, a rabbit!"

"Yeah, so tell us about the doe you met again, ah reckon that she sounds like a winner," the other fox who was wrapped in a blanket said as he tossed another paw full of sticks onto the fire.

Judy's ears shot up as she heard the voice answer, "She was a real lady, unlike any of those hick bunnies back in Bunnyburrows. She knew a lot of things they wouldn't, we even talked about baseball!"

"So let's stick around another day or two hopper," one of the foxes replied as he stretched. Judy blushed when she realized that he was naked and covered only by a ragged blanket over his waist. "Yur paw ain't expectin us back until tomorrow noways. Reckon it's up and hit the hay. We can give a little looksee around the place tomorrow and I reckon we can find her again?"

She had crept closer, but her foot paws crunched on some of the gravel and she heard the buck call out to his friends, "Someone's out there!" his ears and then head poked out from behind the truck, much to her relief. She stood up and his eyes widened when he saw her in the dim firelight. "Oh my, Miss Judy what are you doing here?"

She couldn't help herself, the tough doe who went off to be a cop and once beat a rhino in the boxing ring, burst into tears as she ran forward towards the light and safety.

Rubin quickly stood up, clutching at the blanket which hid his own nakedness. His clothes were hanging so they could air out, along with those of his friends, from a rope tied to the truck and then a nearby tree. Since they had not planned for having to spend the night before returning to Bunnyburrow, they had not packed for an overnight trip and had to make do with what they in the truck. The sobbing doe tossed herself into his arms, causing him to stumble backwards. He blushed as he heard Ezekiel snicker as he lost his grip and part of the blanket fell onto the ground. Trying to desperately grab the fallen portion with his free paw, while the doe clung to him, was useless and he barely kept from losing the whole blanket. "There…there Miss Judy," he muttered as he both relished her embrace and was profoundly uncomfortable with the sudden situation that he found himself facing.

"Miss ya might just let the pur boy grip that thar blanket just a tad bit tighter with both his paws, before he loses it completely," Zachariah called out to the rabbit. Judy stepped back, sniffled and turned her back to the buck so he could cover himself properly. She heard the sound of clothes being desperately pulled from the line as Ezekiel tossed them over the Rubin, and he cursed lightly as he pulled his pants on because his tail was stuck in its opening. There was further crunching of stone and grunting as the foxes also pulled on their pants and shirts.

Judy turned to face the buck again, he hadn't had time to button his union shirt and was bare chested, she saw that he was thinly muscular as any mammal who worked the fields for a living would be expected to look. "I'm so sorry…" she began to sob again. "I was lost…they are chasing me…I am so, so lost!"

"Shhh, you're safe with us Miss Judy," Rubin soothingly cooed as he took her in his arms again. She sniffled as she laid her head against his chest before he directed her to a spot where Ezekiel had spread out a blanket. "Sit down here by the fire and tell us what is going on."

Judy leaned against the buck for comfortable safety as she told her whole story to the skeptical trio of males. Opening her purse, she handed the buck her badge and then the partly empty canister of Fox Off spray. Carefully, she also pulled out the large revolver and the broken watch, before she showed them the now dead taser gun.

"Ah reckon, that explains why the coppers are after you ma'am," Zachariah grunted as he picked up the gun. "But the other stuff, a future where us preds go bonkers…I don't know?"

Ezekiel was frowning as he held the canister of spray to the firelight, "this says it's gonna be good until 2020 and that thar is almost a hundred years from now!"

She snuggled closer into the buck's arms and relaxed as he gently stroked her left ear. "So you are looking for a fox named Nick," Rubin asked. "He sent you the watch so you could stop him do what?"

Judy didn't answer, because now unburdened, she had fallen into an exhausted sleep as she leaned against the strong male rabbit who protectively held her. "I guess that will wait until the morning?" he sighed. "Now which of you two are going to let her have his blanket?" In the end, he wrapped her in his own and slept propped up against the truck's side with her head in his lap. He should have been uncomfortable, but he wouldn't have been anywhere else even if he had a choice.

* * *

Inside the fairgrounds, Judy leaned back in her green cotton covered cot and she could hear the breathing of the sleeping vixens all around her in the room. The scent of foxes permeated the air in the room, making it almost impossible for her to relax as she struggled with her instinctual fear of the predators in whose den she now found herself. Her paw fiddled with the broken watch as she looked up into the darkness and mulled over in her mind the strange events which brought her to this place and time. One thing which baffled her was why did the police come looking for her? She was still angry at the beating that they had given Nick, but it made no sense. The only thing she could think of that they wanted was the watch, but why were they after the watch?

She had wanted to spend the night near Nick, to make sure he was okay and comfortable, but Mabel had ushered her out of the room so that the other male foxes could set up their cots and prepare for the night. Gripping the watch, she slipped out of her cot and tried to quietly creep out of the room. The door slightly creaked, but she managed to get inside the adjoining room without awakening anyone, her nose twitched as the musky male tod scent from within almost overwhelmed her. Silently she stepped over to where Nick was sleeping and she could not help put lovingly put a paw on his forehead. She knew from the way he was breathing, that he was awake and she heard him sift in the cot as his paws encircled her waist, helping her up climb up next to him. Judy tried not to contently sigh as she squirmed back into his warm body and his scent comforted her as it replaced that of the others. _My fox_ , she thought to herself as she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep as his fluffy tail gently covered her.

* * *

 **Flophouses were not uncommon in large cities, because the 1920's saw a significant movement of the traditional agricultural population to the cities in search of work. This was especially prevalent in the African American population as they fled the rural Southern states to the urban Northern cities in search of jobs and a better life, this has been called the Great Migration.**

 **A cultural shift in men's undergarments had started in the 1920s towards separate shorts and undershirts and away from the one white one piece cotton union suit or red flannel long johns. Because they did not have an overabundance of clothing, especially rural folk, they would commonly air their clothes out before they wore them again. Rubin and the Grey brothers were not expecting to spend the night at the fairgrounds and are roughing it by the truck, so they did not have their nightshirts.**


	11. Got to Love Foxes

**Chapter 11: Got to Love Foxes**

* * *

 ** _"Time travel, man! Why ya' gotta be so complicated!?"_** \- Mabel Pines, _Gravity Falls_ , Blendin's Game.

 **Each Judy wakes up being watched by foxes.**

* * *

 **1925**

Rubin Warren awoke to the scent of something more pleasant than the smoke and roasting vegetables which were tickling his nose, he froze when the buck realized that his paw was on the doe's hip and that she was pushed back against him for warmth. Sometime during the night, he had lain down next to her and covered them both with the tattered blanket, now they were spooning together for warmth in the cool morning dawn. She felt so soft, so feminine, and his nose twitched again as he smelled the fur along her neck. He tried not to groan as her tail slightly wiggled as it pressed against the wrong part of his body.

"Well lookie, old Romeo has woken up from his sweet lil old dreams!" a red fox sarcastically whispered to the other fox next to him as they sat by the flickering fire.

Zachariah Grey nudged his brother Ezekiel as he chuckled, "And all this time his poppa was up and worried that he just didn't like the girls." His laughter tapered off when he realized that their friend's brown eyes weren't the only ones looking at them, but there were two amethyst eyes also wide open and staring.

"I still have half a canister of the Fox Off," the doe quietly said as she looked up at the red fox with a thin smile. Both foxes burst out in laughter at her words.

"I reckon you should save shooten him until after we eat," Ezekiel chuckled while he turned over the stick full of carrots that he was roasting over the fire. His claw also flicked a couple of turnips, rotating them slightly in the hot ash. "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, so if you two are done a'snuggling under that thar blanket, ya might want ta clean up."

Rubin began to sit up, but Judy pulled his arm back down over her. "It's cold out there and I am warm, stay put rabbit."

"Yes ma'am," the buck happily sighed.

"Rabbits!" Zachariah laughed as he stood up and stretched before he rambled off towards the trees.

"Miss Judy…as comfortable as this is…it's still not appropriate for us to be like this," Rubin whispered, but did not try to pull his paw free.

"Sweetheart, I'm almost a hundred years older than you, so I'll tell you what is appropriate or not," Judy whispered. She smiled as she felt his paw relax back onto her hip.

The fox at the fire looked up at her and snickered. Before he could say something, his ears shot up as Zachariah ran back to the truck. "Coppers are a'headin this way!" the fox snapped. "They're a looking for the rabbit doe with a gun."

Rubin sat up and looked around, he saw two uniformed rams walking towards them. "Where's the gun?" he asked in a panicked whisper. "We can't get caught with two foxes and a gun!"

Ezekiel looked up and gave a small smirk, "Ah already hit it in the woods, did so last night." He ripped off a section of the nearby blanket and wadded it up. "Miss Judy go and stuff this up unner yur dress, congratulations ya is now wid babies. Put some ash on yur face too, ya gotta look like a downhome country girl."

Judy nodded as she turned around and shoved the blanket to make a budge in front of her stomach and then leaned back against the cold truck as she pulled the other blanket over her. "Mark her!" Ezekiel hissed over to Rubin. "Do it now!"

Judy felt the buck's chin against hers and smelled the male musk on her fur, his mark claiming her as a mate. "Sorry," he whispered.

"You two foxes, up against the truck!" an authoritative voice yelled. Ezekiel and Zachariah both looked over at Rubin, who pulled on his tie before he slipped his suit jacket over his shoulders as he stood up.

"These boys work for me!" he said in a brisk no-nonsense manner as he turned to face the two much larger police officers. "They've been here all night, so I know they haven't done anything wrong officers."

One of the rams frowned over at the black and white furred rabbit who was facing them with his arms crossed. "We're looking for a grey rabbit doe," he began to explain and then he notice Judy. "Just like you, stand up girl!"

"Officer, that is my wife and she is very pregnant," Rubin said in a now agitated manner as his right foot paw tapped the gravel, the universally known signal that a rabbit was now getting angry. "I can't have her hopping up and down, she's due to give birth to our first litter and we need to get home." The ram looked as if he was going to argue, until the buck added, "That is unless one of you two want to help me deliver some babies?"

The ram put his paw up and back away, "Never mind sir, she obviously isn't the doe we are looking for."

"Well, I hope you gentlemammals find who you are looking for," Rubin said as he turned his back to the two officers while he knelt and tenderly took Judy's paw. "Now you just rest darling," he added as he spoke to her. She wanted to bust out laughing because he gave her a wink.

The two officers did not even look back as they continued their search of the other makeshift camps nearby.

"That thar was close," Zachariah grunted as he sat back down by the fire and carefully removed the turnips from the ash. "I do reckon that breakfast is now a ready!"

"I don't even want to know where you two got these veggies," the buck sighed as he pulled out his handkerchief and carefully removed a roasted carrot from the stick to hand to Judy.

"Ya know you can't trust a fox!" Ezekiel snickered as he wiped off the turnips with the edge of his now torn blanket and pulled out a pocket knife. "Too bad we ain't got no salt."

"Or a nice plump trout," his brother added with a smile.

"Foxes!" Rubin mockingly huffed out as he rolled his eyes towards the sky and his overdramatic comments were awarded by Judy's giggle.

"So after breakfast, we're a gonna go find that Nick feller," Ezekiel mumbled through a mouthful of turnips. "That way ya kin do what ya came ta do and then come home wid us."

"I can't keep you here, what about returning home to your father?" Judy sighed as she looked at the handsome buck next to her. "Won't he worry?"

"Thars a Western Union office down yonder," Zachariah answered. "We kin send a tellygram ta let him know ya met a gal and ain't comin home just yet. He'd dance a jig a fur sure!"

"I could send you two back with the truck," Rubin said as he looked over at the two foxes. "That would make the most sense."

"Cept we've been buddies since we were all knee high to a grasshopper," Ezekiel said as he looked up at the buck and then the doe. "You ain't a goin nowhere wid out us a watching yer back."

"Foxes!" Rubin muttered again.

"Yeah foxes," Judy repeated. "You've got to love them."

* * *

Judy's eyes opened and she saw several brown, yellow, and green eyes looking back. "You sure those two aren't lovers?" one of the tods asked in an amused tone. "They sure do look mighty cozy together."

"Philistines!" she heard Honest John called out from behind one of the dressing screens. "Leave the two of them alone."

"At least old Nick didn't wake up with another tod in his arms!" one of the grey fox's snickered out towards the fox behind the screen. "Unlike someone we know!"

"He ain't the only one round here that's that way, boy!" an older grey muzzled silver fox chuckled. "Leave well enough alone. Now little miss, as pleasant your company is this morning, would you mind leaving so we can get dressed for breakfast?"

Judy slipped out of the bed and realized that she was only in her shift, the old silver fox tossed her a blanket so she could cover herself. Wrapping the blanket around herself, she turned back to Nick and put a paw upon his swollen cheek. "How are you feeling this morning?" she asked with concern.

"I think every strand of my fur has been bruised," he grunted a soft reply through busted lips. "But I think I'll live another day."

"We'll see he gets up and about," Honest John interjected. "We've all seen worse, he will be fine once he stands up and starts moving around." The tall handsome fox was already dressed in his tuxedo pants and a spotlessly white dress shirt with the collar open.

Judy looked over at the fox and gave him a nod, "Alright, I'll leave him in your capable paws while I get dressed." Without another word, the doe slipped out of the room.

"Just friends, my tail!" another fox huffed out to Nick. "That doe loves you Sport and last night, you proved that you love her too."

"We're just friends," Nick repeated as he grunted in pain while slowing pulling on his pants. "Best friends, but she needs to find herself a nice buck and settle down."

"Sure," Honest John sighed in disappointment. "Keep telling yourself that Nick. I saw Josephine slipping out of here last night and even I wouldn't turn a vixen like that down."

"I told you we are just friends," the fox huffed back. Nick wasn't looking at the other fox, but at the door through which Judy had just disappeared. "We..are…just friends," he said again, but in a manner which was more like a question.

"Hey, Nick some of the guys felt bad about what happened last night and that you're going to have to leave," Honest John changed the subject. "We took up a little collection to help you get through the rough times until you can get another job somewhere, it's not much but we hope it will help." The fox handed him a pawful of coins and small bills.

Across the hallway, several vixens giggled as Judy returned back to the rom. "We'll how was old Nicki last night?" one of them called out and she looked over at a slim grey fox, who was a dancer. "You gotta admit he is one handsome fox."

"He was in pain and I went to help him relax," Judy answered, but she realized how that sounded and her ears blushed. "You know what I mean?"

"Sure, baby…sure!" the vixen giggled as she pulled on her dress.

"Breakfast in half an hour!" Mabel called out as the kit fox entered the room. "Amos got his paws on some fresh eggs for the porridge. Judy, I saved a bowl of the collard greens from last night. I'm not sure what rabbits eat for breakfast, but I figured it wasn't eggs."

"The greens will be just fine," Judy replied with a smile as she pulled on the dress again. "Nick and I will be leaving right after breakfast. Does anyone know how to get to Happy Town from here?"

"Shoot honey, most of us live or work in Happy Town," another vixen called out. "It's the happening place to be! That's where all the clubs are and tons of dough. You can catch the Dog Car down at the western end of the grounds and it'll run you over there for a nickel each. That's a lot cheaper than a bus and besides, depending who is behind the wheel of the bus, they might not let Nick aboard."

"What's the Dog Car?" Judy asked, hesitating as she pulled her cap back over her ears.

"Darling, that's the nickname for the tram that runs from the city to Happy Town," the vixen laughed. "It's mostly used by us preds, since only a few hoity-toity prey folks will ride it, even when they come down to the clubs to watch us sing and dance...and sometimes do other things if they pay enough." Several of the other girls laughed along with her.

The rabbit still looked confused, "What's a dog?"

"Oh honey, don't you know anything?" Mabel sighed. "DOG means Damned Old Growlers, it's a word they call us foxes sometimes, along with the coyotes and the wolves."

"Hey Judy!" someone called out and she turned to face Josephine, the vixen looked very pretty as usual. "Look all us gals think you and Nick are the bee's knees and even though we don't know why the coppers are after you… like if any of us have never been arrested before!" she snickered out and the other vixens who had gathered around her laughed. "We saved up some of our tips from last night and we wanted you two to have them, it isn't much just a few bucks." The vixen shoved a wad of cash into her paw. "Come on girls and let's eat before those tods hog up everything again!"

Judy watched as the vixens streamed out of the room, leaving her alone. "Yeah foxes," Judy sighed to herself. "You've got to love them."

* * *

 **Streetcars and trolleys were a common mode of transportation inside most large cities during the 1920's. Interurban trams were similar, but connected nearby communities to the cities at a time when roadways were still unpaved and poorly maintained. Most ran using overhead electrical wires over tracks of varying degrees of safety.**


	12. Judy, Miss Judy, & Agent Jack

**Chapter 12: Judy, Miss Judy, & Agent Jack  
**

* * *

" **I would not want to bet against the possibility of time travel. My opponent might have seen the future and know the answer."** \- Stephen Hawking

 **Agent Jack Savage investigates Judy the meter maid's disappearance and has to kick some tail. The Grey boys consider their options with Miss Judy, as Nick and his Judy learn why the cops are after them.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

"Look, that rabbit has been a pain in my tail ever since she was assigned by former Mayor Lionheart to my precinct _,"_ the large cape buffalo complained as he sipped from his very large mug of coffee. Police Chief Adrian Bogo was a long time veteran of the department and a survivor. "Now hop along Agent Savage, I've got more important things to deal with than a missing traffic cop. She probably got her feeling hurt again and, if I'm lucky, she has finally quit."

Agent Jack Savage stared at the larger office with growing agitation. "I still have a case to look into," he snapped back. "You can try to make this easy or hard, I've got national level jurisdiction to investigate her disappearance."

"She's gone and that's all I care about!" Chief Bogo replied as he turned to ignore the agent.

The tall thin hare in the black suit shook his head as he stepped out of the office and looked around. "What an idiot! I missed breakfast for this moron!" he sighed as he stepped down the stairs. While he sat in the police chief's office, he came to the understanding why things in Zootopia got so out of control, the cape buffalo was clueless on how to run an investigation.

His team had just handed the Chief of Police their whole entire case against Mayor Bellwether and her cronies. Prior to his meeting with Bogo, Jack had personally led a raid against the old subway car, which the terrorist were using as a laboratory and caught all three rams. The lab was exactly where the late Nick Wilde claimed it would be located. It didn't take long for their leader, Doug Ramsey, to spill the whole entire plot and implicate the mayor as one of the organization's leaders. His assistant, an Aegean cat named Minos, had led the team that had arrested Mayor Bellwether at the New Gnu City Airport while she was trying to flee the county.

Jack had already searched Judy Hopp's desk and there just wasn't very many clues on her whereabouts. On her desk lay her hat and vest, along with an open mania envelope with a letter begging her to wind a watch, which was also gone. "Excuse me," he called over to a rhino who was sitting down the aisle from the cubicle. "Do you know who was the last mammal to see Officer Hopps before she left?"

"Don't know!" the large grey officer answered as he scratched at his ear. "Wait…I guess that would be Jake, he's a raccoon on prison release, they've got him delivering the mail and cleaning the trash bins."

"And where might I find this Jake?" the hare tried to pleasantly ask.

"He used to hang out with Benny downstairs in Records, but they let him go." the rhino shrugged. "Try down in the motor pool."

The thin hare took one last look at the desk and picked up the letter again, it was signed Nick.

 _Remember me Judy. You have to stop us and change back what was! Please Judy, wind the watch_.

"That makes no sense," he sighed to himself. "What could a watch do with turning back time and what did Nick Wilde mean by stopping us?" He put the letter in a plastic bag and slipped it into the satchel which he had brought. After taking a few more photos, he shut the case and began walking down the hallway towards the motor pool.

The raccoon was in the motor pool and Jack found him cleaning out one of the police cruisers. "You seem to be a handy guy," he called out as he walked towards the raccoon.

Jake looked up at the approaching hare with trepidation. "I didn't have anything to do with Officer Hopps disappearance," he replied. The collar around his neck had changed colors from green to yellow, showing that the raccoon was beginning to panic.

"Calm down," Agent Savage said as he drew out a set of keys. "I just want to talk…"

The raccoon winced as the collar turned red and an electrical charge shot down his body. Savage reached over and, despite the shock he got from touching the poor mammal's neck, he twisted the collar's lock and let the dreadful device drop onto the floor. "That's enough of that!" he snapped as he rubbed his paws. "Those damn things are going into the dumpster before we get done with this whole sorted affair. Now, I want to know what you know about the disappearance of Officer Judy Laverne Hopps?"

Jake wearily sat down on a nearby chair and gently rubbed his neck, the fur was scorched and there were signs of burns caused by the device. "There isn't much I can tell you about what happened," he sighed. "I tried to tell the other cops, but they didn't believe me or care."

The hare reached over and touched the raccoon's neck, before setting down in a nearby chair. "Tell me what you saw and then we are going to the hospital to get that neck treated properly," he said as he pulled out a small tape recorder and held it in his paw. "Start from the beginning."

The raccoon's ears drooped and he shook his head no. "Look, I can't leave the collar off, they'll toss me back in jail and not let me out," he objected. "They look at the burns at the jail infirmary and tell us that there is nothing they can do about them."

Agent Savage glanced down at the collar, "You're a federal witness now and under my department's jurisdiction," he gave a soft growl. "Don't worry about the collar. I have one of my assistant's filling out your transfer to a federal facility outside of this city. Now, tell me what you saw…"

Before the raccoon could answer, a couple of uniformed zebras entered the room and made straight for them as they drew their taser batons. "That prisoner is dangerous and is supposed to be wearing his collar at all times," the largest of the two yelled. "He's going to have to come with us…NOW!"

Savage stood and calmly faced the larger officers. "He's being questioned by me and this is now a federal matter," he said with more authority in his tone than anyone could think that a hare could muster. "It's time for you two to leave." Jake stood wide eyed and looked back and forth at the two police officers and the strange agent.

"Make me!" the larger zebra grunted as he lifted his taser baton. Neither the raccoon nor the two zebras saw the hare move at first, but he had propelled himself towards the larger officer and with a kick, swept under the large stallion's knee and sent him sprawling to the hard concrete floor with a scream of pain. The agent quickly pulled and cuffed the police officer's hoofs behind his back and then turned to face his partner. "Your buddy is now under arrest for assaulting a federal agent, do you want to join him?" The zebra looked at the other officer, who was writhing in agony on the ground, and then at the hare, before he ran back down the hallway for reinforcements.

By the time Agent Savage's back up had arrived, the hare was facing down a roomful of angry cops as he stood atop a now shackled uniformed rhino, who was also lying face down next to the zebra. Chief Bogo was there, but the tall bull realized that matters were now out of his hoofs and there was little that he could do but cooperate with the agent.

* * *

 **1925**

"Ya know Zach, that if Miss Judy is who she done up and claims she is, she sure could up and make us rich," Ezekiel called over to his brother as they both were relieving themselves in the woods. "I reckon she knows whar the cash kin be made?"

"Yeah, I've been a thinkin about that Zek," Zachariah sighed as he shook and tucked himself back into his pants before he began buttoning up his fly. "But I'm a simple farmer, I like workin the land for a living. Do you really want ta be rich like them thar fancy folk, flashing their money tryin ta act all uppity and self'portant? It also seems to me that they are unhappy in the end."

"Would be nice to at least get pa a new tractor," his bother sighed as he scratched at his muzzle. "Ma could do wid a fancy washin machine, course we'd have ta have electricity."

"Maybe it would be nice to have our own land," the other fox added. "But I reckon the best is that Miss Judy dun makes Rubin happy, I'd give up all that thar riches fur him ta just to be happy."

"Ah reckon," Ezekiel replied as they made their way back to their makeshift camp. "What if she up and finds this Nick feller and goes away?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Zachariah answered. "Nutin we can do if she has to."

They stopped and looked at the two rabbits sitting on a blanket by the fire; both the doe and the buck were laughing and talking as they snuggled together. "Sure would be a pity for him to lose her though," the fox added. "But I don't want to raise no kin in that thar world she claims is a comin."

"Then I guess its past time we let her know whar ta find that fox," Ezekial grunted as he began to walk towards the happy couple. "Bet ya two bits that that's the same Nick that the coppers were roughin up last night, ya think they thought Miss Judy waz with him?"

* * *

Inside the fairgrounds, it took Nick a long time to finish dressing and make his way to where all the other foxes were happily chatting as the ate breakfast. "Hey Nick!" he heard Judy call out as she ran over to help him to a chair, where he gingerly sat down.

Mabel passed him a bowl of what looked like boiled grain. "It's farina," the small vixen explained when she saw his confused look. She placed a mug of steaming hot coffee in front of him. "Cracked wheat and we've cooked some eggs into it to give it more body."

Nick tried to smile through his swollen lips as he tasted it and nodded. "It's delicious," he sighed as he slowly chewed. Judy had taken a seat just down the table and was eating a bowl of left over collard greens from the previous night.

"So Nicki, what did you and Judy do to piss off the cops?" a petite artic fox vixen called out.

"We don't know?" Judy quickly answered for him. "We have no idea why they are after us?"

"I heard from my Willie, that they think Judy stole a gun from a cop!" a grey fox vixen in a flowery dress smugly called out. "They said you shot some poor dumb wolf with a ray gun and took his pistol!"

"How would Willie know that?" another vixen scoffed. "He is just a raccoon with the city's sanitation department and not a cop!"

"He was emptying the trash down at the police station and overheard the cops talking. They are all up in arms about the whole thing!" the grey fox vixen curtly answered. "The wolf just remembered that the grey furred bunny doe who shot him was looking for a fox named Nick, so I guess they figured it was Judy. Willie said that that other bunny just about electrocuted that cop."

"I didn't shoot anyone!" Judy protested, her ears were erect in surprise. "That kind police officer even found us a ride to the fairgrounds."

"Well some grey furred bunny shot him with an electric ray gun!" the vixen sweetly added in a mocking manner. "Everyone knows that you rabbits look and stink alike!"

"Amanda!" a stern voice called out and the vixen's ears drooped as she looked over at Amos. "Nick and Judy are our guests this morning, behave yourself."

"Its just not natural, a bunny and a fox!" she now defensively whined out as she glared at Judy and then Nick. "He's...he's...a prey chaser! You know that ain't right!"

"Amanda!" the pudgy fox in the dark grey suit growled this time. "That wasn't very nice, one more word out of your muzzle and I'll make you a cigarette girl tonight!"

"Fine!" the vixen named Amanda snapped as she pushed her chair away from the table and stormed out of the room.

"FINE!" Amos snarled at her as she left.

The room was tensely quiet as the remaining foxes continued with their meal.

Finally Judy broke then silence with a question, "Just what is a cigarette girl?"

The foxes laughed as Honest John rolled his eyes before answering , "Ah my poor naive little lady, she would have wear a skimpy little black dress and a silly red pillbox hat while walking around with a tray hung around her neck containing cigarettes, cigars, and other whatnots to sell to the clients at their tables. Lets just say, our clientele tend to paw at our cigarette girl's...ah, very personal places...during the night."

"The tips aren't bad and you get used to a paw or hoof grabbing your hiney or tail" a young thin red fox vixen pipped up. "Just flirt back and you'll get a better tip. As cute as you are Judy, you'd make a great cigarette girl!"

"Only a rabbit can call another rabbit cute," Judy began to explain, until she remembered that she was in a room full of foxes in the 1920's, so she just sighed and nodded instead.

Nick gave a small chuckle as he watched the bunny's look of resignation.

* * *

 **I know that I might be hard on Chief Bogo in this story, but it just seems like the ZPD wasn't really properly organized to investigate many of their cases in a professional manner.**

 **The Grey brothers pants have button fly fastning, zippers were not common on mens pants until the 1940s.**

 **Farina is best known by one of its popular brand names, Cream of Wheat.**

 **For clarification about Judy & Miss Judy:  
**

 **The Judy with Nick is the same lovable bunny from the movie and she was pulled back in time with the fox. The police are after her because they think she attacked an officer and stole his gun, a case of mistaken identity. If events do not change, she will be killed. Her death will led Nick, who will be trapped in the past, to send the watch to the Judy of that new future timeline.**

 **The Judy with Rubin and the Grey brothers, known by them as Miss Judy, is from the new future created when the original Nick and Judy went back in time and changed the past. She was sent back in time by the original Nick, to stop him and his Judy from creating a new future like they did. It was this Judy who attacked and took the police officer's gun.** **Agent Jack Savage is investigating this Judy's disappearance, caused by her being sent back in time.**


	13. You're Leaving?

**Chapter 13: You're Leaving?**

* * *

" _ **Lesson Number One: All the time traveling in the world can't make someone love you**_ _." - Tim Lake in_ _About Time._

 **Nick and Judy get ready to leave the World's Fair just as Miss Judy and Rubin prepare to get back in.**

* * *

 **1925**

With a groan, Nick stood and slowly carried his now clean bowl back to the kitchen. He had to laugh when he found that several of the foxes still drank hard cider with their meal, along with the coffee. It seemed that Prohibition just could not stop the homemade cider industry, although he was told that several die-hard temperance fanatics had tried to set fire to the local orchards in an attempt to stamp out the drink. The bottom line was that both outlawed cider and beer was still safer to drink than the local water, which was piped in through lead pipes from polluted river waters and crudely treated.

"Come on fox," he heard Amos call out to him and he followed the plump fox in the dark grey suit to the building next door and into the backroom, where he sat down on an old rickety chair in front of a makeshift desk. "Doc said to give yoz some of this stuff," the grey fox said as he handed a bag over to the larger red fox. "It's for the pain."

"What is it?' Nick asked as he looked at the container of pills and the unmarked bottle of liquid.

"I don't know?" the fox replied as he rummaged through a pile of paperwork. "Probably just aspirin or sumptin, and the other smells like turpentine liniment." As the larger fox turned to walk away, Amos suddenly tossed Nick's wallet onto the table. "Lifted this from your junk," he said as he looked up at the red fox, "All that malarkey that Judy was a say'n bot being from the future, she wasn't a kidden' was she?"

Nick gave a slight wince as he looked down at the wallet and picked it up. "Look, we are trying to figure out why we came back to this time…or even how?" the red fox said with a deep sigh. "It was the watch that must have done it and the only thing I can figure out is that we are supposed to stop its owner from being murdered."

"Then yoz is really a copper from the future?" Amos quietly said almost to himself. "Yoz told Josephine to leave the county and go overseas, why?"

"Because she's going to be a cultural sensation over there," Nick replied as he rubbed his still swollen eyes. "I was always a fan of her music and career."

"Then she'd be safe over there?" the smaller fox gave a sigh of relief and Nick suddenly realized that Amos was in love with the vixen. The pudgy grey fox absently reached up and straightened his tie, as if habit. "She'll have a good life overseas?"

"Some bumps along the way, but generally yeah," the larger fox answered. He hesitated for a few moments before adding, "Sorry Amos, but I don't really know anything about you."

"I never figured ta be famous at doin' what I do," he replied with a thin smile. "I'm just another type of hustler, I just hustle vaudeville acts. Well it's good thing that a fox shouldn't know about the future, who knows what might happen?"

"Then I better be leaving," Nick said as he offered his paw to the smaller fox. "We are still not sure why the police are looking for Judy? I mean, who can believe that a bunny with a ray gun stole a pistol from a wolf police officer?"

"Sum'tin don't make sense about the whole thing?" Amos quickly said as he shook Nick's paw. "Judy was wid us when it happened."

Nick nodded at Amos as he closed the door, leaving the other fox staring at the papers on his desk. "I hope that life treats you good brother fox," he whispered towards the now closed door.

When he turned around he saw her, the bunny standing there dressed in the light pink silk blend, flapper style dress, with her ears erect and nose twitching. "Is everything okay?" she asked as she clutched her hat in her paw. There was a borrowed heavily worn carpet bag containing their few possessions sitting on the floor by her feet.

He gave her a forced smile through his broken bruised lips, "Everything is just peachy."

Her ears dropped as she saw his underlying pain. "Are you going to make it?" she asked with concern. "If you are still hurting, we can figure someplace to stay for a few days more if you need to rest?"

"I'll make it!" he replied with false bravado as he held up the sack with the pills and the bottle of liquid. "After all, the good doctor even gave me a bottle of turpentine for some reason?"

"It's an old home remedy Nick," Judy sighed as she gave him a small smile. "You're supposed to rub it on your sore muscles, Pop Pop swears it works."

"Great to know, I'll rub it on any of my sore muscles if I can find them under all the bruises," Nick quipped back with a goofy grin.

He reached for the bag she had picked up, but she pulled it from his reach, "You can barely walk as it is Nick. I'll carry this and you just take it easy."

"You spoil me Carrots." he chuckled as he slowly followed her out the door and onto the boulevard.

Two figures observed them leaving and as they watched, Honest John slipped his arm over the vixen's shoulder. "Those two make a strange pair," he observed. Josephine only sadly nodded, before turning to go back inside.

* * *

"Leave the gun where it is hidden," the handsome buck crisply ordered everyone in an almost too commanding voice, causing the pretty grey furred doe to raise her eyebrow slightly. He winched as he saw her look. "Sorry Miss Judy, do you think we should leave the gun hidden?"

The two red foxes couldn't help but snicker at their friend's discomfort. "I reckon we can up and tell who's gonna wear the britches…" Ezekiel began to say until Judy's amethyst eyes locked onto his brown ones and he decided it was time to shut up.

Zachariah quickly spoke up, if only to save his brother from the humiliation of having been put in his place by a bunny, "I think we know whar that other fox Nick might up and be!"

Judy quickly turned towards him. Her nose was twitching with excitement as she desperately asked, "Where is he?"

"Thar waz a Nick at that fancy dancy dance club last night and the coppers beat him up mightily good. I think they waz a lookin' fer a bunny and he wadn't tell em where she went?"

"Then we got to hurry and go there now!" the bunny called out as she began to run towards the distant fairground.

"Whoa thar Miss Judy!" Ezekiel yelled after her. "The coppers will be a watching all the gates lookin fer you, so we need to up and sneak in…right?"

The bunny's ears drooped when she realized that he was right. "How are we going to do that?" she asked as she looked back at the buck and the two foxes. "I don't think I can pass myself off as pregnant again."

"We just sneak in like we did last night," Rubin said as he shrugged his shoulders. "You don't think we would waste good money paying to go in there?"

"Rubin!" Judy exclaimed. "You snuck in and didn't pay?"

The buck gave her a grin before answering, "I guess I've been hanging around foxes too long and have picked up some of their bad habits?"

"He keeps thinken like that and we'll make a fox out of him yet!" Ezekiel chuckled as he looked at his brother, who just grinned back.

"Foxes!" Judy sighed.

"We could always dress you like a clown or one of those fancy mimes," Rubin laughed. Upon hearing that, Judy suddenly stopped and gripped her head as memories flashed into her mind. She was in a cold dark room surrounded by polar bears, in front of her was a small mouse…no a shrew… he was dressed in a black suit.

" _Mime! She is a mime!" the red fox next to her desperately called out as he pushed her shoulder roughly while glaring at her. She knew this fox was Nick. "This…this mime cannot speak! You can't speak if you're a mime!"_

" _No, I am a cop!" she self-righteously said to the surprisingly dangerous looking shrew as she showed him the picture of…an otter? " And I'm on the Emmitt Otterton case, and my evidence puts him in your car! So intimidate me all you want, I'm gonna find out what you did to that otter if it's the last thing I do!" There was a groan and the fox was muzzlepalming himself in frustration._

" _Then I have only one request," the shrew replied with a grin as he leaned forward in his chair. "Say hello to Grandmama! Ice 'em!"_

" _Whoa, whoa, whoa! She heard Nick yell as she stepped back and looked at the shrew in confusion. Suddenly a massive paw seized the back of her vest and lifted her from the ground. "I didn't see nothing! I'm not saying nothing!" she heard Nick whine as another bear grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled at him. There were scratches left where his claws desperately dug into the wooden desk._

" _And you never will." The shrew replied with a dark grin._

" _Please!" The fox desperately whined again as he struggled in the bear's grip._

" _Put me down!" she ordered, but her eyes widened in fear as she saw the trap door being removed and looked down into the icy water below._

"Miss Judy!" a voice called out in the darkness and she opened her eyes in confusion as she felt the handsome buck's arms clutch her to his chest. "You blacked out for a moment darling!"

"I did?" she mumbled. "It's been like that since I touched this watch. I've had these strange dreams or memories of being with Nick, as if I was seeing things happen through the eyes of another me?"

"Auntie Elsie did the same thing," Ezekiel said in a concerned voice. "A'fore they dun took her way ta the loonie bin." He yipped slightly as his brother punched his arm.

"Ain't the same, Auntie Elsie talked to the deadums," Zachariah sighed. "Ya know spooks. Judy ain't talkin with no spooks. Give her a shot of shine, that'll set her right as rain!"

Ezekiel offered a small bottle towards the bunnies. "Where did you get a bottle of whiskey?" Rubin began to ask and then he just shook his head and added. "Foxes!"

"He up and says that a lot," Zachariah snickered. "Bin doin' it since we first met. His momma said his first words were mommy and then foxes, but not necessarily in that there order."

Judy smiled and gave a small laugh at her new friend's antics.

"Miss Judy sure does have a purdy laugh," Ezekiel whispered to his brother. "But I reckon we need to get a goin."

"Time to get ol' sneaky like a fox!" Zachariah called out. "That is if'n you two ain't a gonna just stand there and snuggle all day?"

She fondly watched the two brothers as they walked towards the nearby woods. For most her life, she had been warned not to trust foxes and she still had the scars left on her right cheek from the clawing that Gideon Gray had given her when they with children. In his later years, Gideon however had changed from being a bully to a friend and had even become partners with her parents. As for these two Gray boys, well Rubin couldn't have more loyal friends.

"Ya'll are coming?" Ezekiel called back to them as he grinned and waved his paw for them to follow.

"Let's go find this Nick," Rubin muttered as he took her paw and led her after his two best friends.

She was amazed as the two reddish orange furred foxes slipped almost invisibly into the darkness of the woods and stealthy made their way down the wooden fence that had been built along the perimeter of the fairground. She wanted to giggle as Rubin hopped onto Zachariah's shoulders so he could peek over the wall. "All clear!" he whispered and then she watched as Ezekiel first laid down and then wiggled himself under the fence. Moments later, the fox's paw reached back from the other side and helped pull her under and into the fairgrounds.

"Run to the back of that building!" Ezekiel hissed as he followed her, sprinting to reach the shadows of the tall Pagoda looking structure. A few moments later, Rubin and Zachariah slipped up next to her.

"Easy peasy," the buck quietly chuckled. He wiped himself off. Judy was wiping her dress off too and jumped as she felt his paw brush near her tail. "Sorry Miss Judy, but you had some grass and dirt back there," he quickly said.

She giggled as she looked back at him and noticed that his ears were blushing. "Sure...sure I did Rubin!" she said with a smile as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I guess I should thank you?"

"I was my pleasure Miss Judy," he began to reply and then realizing what he had just said could be taken out of context, he started to object. "I...I...meant..."

"I'm sure it was!" Judy giggled, causing the handsome buck to blush even more.

"Rabbits!" Zachariah dramatically sighed.

* * *

 **In early American orchards were of the mostly sour apple varieties and these were really only good for one main purpose, the making of apple jack or hard cider. During the early years of prohibition, ax welding federal agents and radical temperance fanatics went after the trees with a vengeance in an attempt to destroy the home made cider industry. Three out of every four of the country's apples trees were destroyed or removed during Prohibition and a whole range of cultivars were eradicated south of the Canadian border, only recently has the US cider market begun to recover.**


	14. Just Missed Myself

**Chapter 14: Just Missed Myself**

* * *

" **Shh! Listen! Someone's coming! I think...I think it might be us!" –** Hermione in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

 **Nick and Judy on their way to Happy Town, just as the Grey brothers lead Miss Judy and Rubin to the** **Grande Cabaret.**

* * *

 **1925**

"It doesn't look like the trolley station is much further away Nick," Judy said as she stood next to the fox in the brown checkered suit, he was wearily slumped on a bench along the busy thoroughfare. Outwardly Nick didn't look too bad, except of his swollen eyes and battered lips, but the bunny knew that he was severely bruised under his fur. She was impressed that her friend had made it this far, considering the condition he was in. However, Nick was the kind of guy who had always surprised her. When they had first met, he had conned her into buying a jumbo pop for Finnick, playing on her sympathy for the fully grown fennec fox desguised to look like a little kit in a pair elephant pajamas. Later he sarcastically belittled her when she confronted him about what he had done. But despite their rough beginning, they soon became friends and she remembered the day when she had returned to the city, only to find him under a bridge,and how she bared her soul as she pleaded in desperation for his help in solving the Night Howlers case. The "Sly Fox" and not so "Dumb Bunny" remained not just friends, but best friends, from that day forward.

She looked over at the fox relaxing in the sun, Nick had changed since then. Due to his training at the police academy, he was now physically tougher and due her influence, he was also now much more empathetic with others. Several times, she had watched in amazement as Nick used his gift of gab to deescalate a bad situation, including talking several despondent mammals out of attempted suicides. The fox seemed to always further amaze not only her as his partner, but the other police officers too. He did however retain his playful foxy sense of humor which got him in trouble more than once with others, especially Chief Bogo. She pulled at her left ear as she looked at him, sitting radiantly in the sun. Judy knew she had fallen in love with her best friend and was worried that if she ever told him, it would ruin their friendship forever. After all, she was a rabbit and he was a fox and she didn't want others to think Nick was a prey chaser, as Amanda had so inelegantly called him earlier.

"Give me a few minutes to rest Carrots and then we can continue," Nick sighed as he leaned bank with his eyes closed and relished the warm sun on his fur, it seemed to help sooth his bruises. "Just a few minutes and then we are gone, you are watching out for cops?"

"Sure Slick," she replied with a thin smile as she watched the crowd passing by. "Hey Nick, if the police are watching the station, then how am I going to get inside?"

"I thought about stuffing you in that bag," he chuckled as he peeked at her with one swollen eye. "If I push really hard, you might just fit."

"Har…har…" she mockingly laughed. "I think I'm too big.

"Probably," he sighed as he felt her sit next to him. "I'm sure we'll think of something once we see the station's layout. Maybe the cops will be wolves and you can start another howl! I remember that worked really good at the Cliffside Asylum, just don't flush me down anymore toilets."

"I am the only bunny who has ever flushed a fox down the toilet and don't you forget that Slick!" she giggled and was happy to see him give a smile at her comments. Her ears dropped as she asked the question which both of them feared to say out loud, "Nick, what are we going to do if we don't get back to our own time?"

"Move to Pawaii!" he quickly laughed out as he gave her a smirk. "I going to lay all day long under a palm tree, drink a Mai Tai **,** and watch my beach bunny surf." He paused as he gingerly scratched next to his nose and added, "I wonder if they have invented the Mai Tai yet? If not, I might just have to do that myself."

"I don't surf," she giggled.

"Well then, I guess we will just have to figure out how to get back home," he grunted as he stood up and began walking down the boulevard again. "If I don't get to see you in a grass skirt on a surfboard, then let's just go home."

His ears twitched and he smiled as he heard her whisper to herself, "I wouldn't mind going to Pawaii even if we do get home."

She walked next to him as he slowly limped further down the street. "Hey Nick, if we don't make it back…" she started.

She felt his paw on her back and he looked down at her with a smile. "If we don't make it back, you were thinking that we should become private eyes," he said with chuckle. "Come on, admit it Fluff."

"Well I was thinking, this town could just a hard drinking, private dick and her foxy sidekick," she said with a twenty's gangster accent.

"It's a good thing that word hasn't changed to what it means in our time!" Nick laughed.

"What word?" she asked in confusion. "Sidekick?"

"No Fluff…dick!" he scoffed. "Think about what that means in our time?"

"Nick!" she laughed out and managed to blush at the same time. "I didn't mean it that way!"

"Rabbits!" he added with a laugh. "So it really is true what they say about your kind, you've always got THAT on your mind."

"HA! This coming from a MALE!" she returned the laugh as she began to give him a friendly punch like she'd often do, but she hesitated when she suddenly remembered he was hurt.

"We're here and surprise, surprise, so are the cops," the fox grunted as he ignored her last comment.

They quickly ducked around the corner and peeked over at the train station, there were two stout looking uniformed male elephants standing there watching the crowd.

"I've got just the thing you need!" a voice called out from behind them and they turned to see a familiar greasy looking weasel in a grimy purplish blue suite standing with a grin as he adjusted his black bowler to cover his ears. "Like I said big fella, I can tell that you are in pain and I've got just the thing to ease those aches and pains in this bottle."

"Westelton?" Judy asked in surprise.

"The name is Weaselton, Doctor Samuel Weaselton and I have just the right medication for your big friend," he replied as he held out a green bottle with the name Duke's Tonic printed on the label. "A special tonic that is guaranteed to free you from all aches and pains, bloating, the hives, fleas, and even the bed bugs." Nick wanted to laugh when he peeked around the small mammal and saw the suitcase of bottles on a portable stand.

"You've got to be kidding!" Judy held her paw in front of her muzzle as she whispered to Nick. "The Duke of Bootleg's great grandfather is a snake oil salesmammal?"

"Sorry pal, I'm not interested in any more medication," the fox laughed as he held up his bag with the bottles of aspirin and turpentine inside. "But you seem to be a bright, intelligent guy and I bet you might know how we can get into the trolley station without those two big tooters seeing us?"

The weasel stepped out on the street and looked at the two large police officers. "You running from the copper's fox?" he asked with a grin. "How much do you got to pay me to tell you a way inside?"

"I'm a fox, so do you think I'm rich?" Nick scoffed.

"Coppers were the ones who worked you over?" he suddenly asked and then shrugged. "Yeah, they've beaten me up more than once and even busted my tail in two places, never trust a flatfoot. "Come on and I'll show you the way."

He led them to a small grate in the ground and gave a little grunt as he pulled in up. "Might be a bit tight of a squeeze into the hole for you fox, but it opens up once you get inside," he said with a smile. "Go right to the first turn and then a left, the second grate will put you inside the building."

"Last time I went into a drain pipe, I was washed off the side of cliff!" Nick grumbled as he wormed his way into the hole. "Hey it's not too bad down here once you get in Carrots."

Judy looked over at the weasel and reached into her bag for a coin or two, but Weaselton just shook his head as he refused to take the money. "Just do me a favor and one day help out another guy in need," he said with a smile. "Your friend is one of us, a pred, and we have to look out for each other nowadays."

The opening inside of the station was a tad larger, but Nick still struggled to pushed his way out of the hole. Once out he reached down and took the bag from Judy and then helped her out. "Let's not do that again Fluff," he huffed out as he sat down on a small bench around the corner. She could tell that he was hurting again. "Go find out what time the next trolley to Happy Times leaves."

* * *

Rubin held her hand as they followed the foxes down the boulevard. Zachary looked back at the couple and then gave his brother a frown. "Don't know bout you Zek, but I reckon I've got mixed feelin's bout doin this," he sighed out. "If Miss Judy finds that Nick, think she up leave Lil Thumper?"

"Told ya, that's somethin' we're just gonna have to face," Ezekiel replied. "We have to do right for them both."

"I know, but I reckon that…" Zachary stopped talking as they came in sight of the building which was supposed to be an old Saharan temple with large faux stone statues of the ebony black jackal gods flanking the entrance. A sign above the door read the Grande Cabaret. "We're here brother, it's now or never."

Ezekiel looked down at the ground and shook his head, "Best do what's right."

"We're up n here Miss Judy," Ezekiel called out to the two bunnies who were behind them. "Cept its still closed rite now. Guess we can come back later today when it done has opened?"

"The workers have to be here someplace," Judy said as she ran up and pushed at the locked door. "Let's try around back, there has to be someway in because I can hear someone in there practicing."

The two foxes reluctantly followed the two rabbits to the rear of the building. They didn't realize until they got into the back that the music was coming from a large circus tent behind the structure. Pushing a tent flap aside, Judy peeked into the tent and saw several dozen foxes inside. She watched some of the foxes practicing their routine as other were playing cards or talking, desperately she looked them over but none of them looked like the fox in her visions. "Where is Nick?" she called out as she stepped inside.

There was commotion inside of the tent as the foxes looked over at her in surprise. "Judy!" a pretty vixen cried out. "What do you mean? You left with Nick to go to the station several hours ago!"

"Has something happened to Nick," a handsome red fox in a tuxedo exclaimed as he ran in her direction. "Did something happen?"

The red fox began to reach for her, but Rubin stepped between them. "Don't you dare lay a paw on Miss Judy!" the buck snapped at the larger tod.

"What? Wait! Who are you?" Honest John asked in surprise as he looked down at the black and white furred male rabbit who was challenging him. His eyes narrowed as he looked back at the doe and then his nose caught the scent that she had been marked by the buck. "You're not Judy! What's going on here?"

"If'n this get ugly, I'll take the six on the left and you've got the rest," Ezekial whispered to his brother as the two strapping country foxes stepped into the tent behind the rabbits.

"Your six are vixens," Zachariah complained as he snarled at the other foxes.

"Simmer down yoz two!" a pudgy grey fox in a dark grey suit called out as he walked towards them. "Now what is going on wid Nick?"

"I came looking for a red fox by the name of Nick, do you know him?" Judy asked.

The grey fox looked her over and gave a thin smile before replying, "Yoz look like the bunny who was traveling wid him, her name was Judy. Yoz two related or sumtin? Don't tell me yoz her sister and after him cause he dun run off wid her?"

"Wait…wait…Nick is with another rabbit named Judy?" the doe said as she shook her head in confusion. She felt Rubin's paw slip into hers.

"Yes, he left with Judy earlier today!" Honest John answered as the thin fox in the tuxedo stood crossed armed and faced the two country foxes. His teeth showed as he gave a quiet snarl at the two larger foxes. "If you have a problem with Nick and Judy, then you have a problem with us!"

"I still up and get them six vixens," Ezekiel said with a grin as he winked at one of the pretty red fox vixens before he addressed her. "Ah member you up on that thar stage before the cops busted in, ya weren't quite as dressed up then waz ya?"

Josephine did not respond but just stared back at the larger tod, who actually flinched in surprise. Zachariah gave a small chuckle and slapped his brother on the back. "Don't thin ya kin take her in a fair fight, ya weren't much of a fighter no ways," he said as he looked first the at vixen and then his brother. "Paw always said don't fight wid the girls anyhow."

"Can it yoz all!" Amos snapped. "Everyone back ta work, wez got a show tonight. Miss if yoz and yoz mate wid join me in the back of the building next door, we'll figure this out."

"He's not my…" Judy began to say, but Rubin tightened his paw and she looked at him. "Fine, we'll talk. Ezekiel and Zachariah, will you stay here? Just don't you two get into a fight or bother the ladies."

"She's up an sound'en like a Warren already," Ezekiel huffed as he watched the two rabbit follow the grey fox out of the tent. "Just like Rubin's mamma, barking them orders at everyone."

"She's a female rabbit, they're all like that," Zachariah shrugged. "Ya gotta be bossy if'n your a mamma to a hunnred or so kits."

"You two take a seat and don't touch anything," a small vixen called out to them as she lowered the rolling pin she held menacingly in her paws. "I'll fetch you both some coffee and a couple of the apple turnovers I just baked."

"Mable cooked turnovers!" several of the foxes excitedly called out to each other.

The small fox wiped her paws on her flower covered apron and frowned before replying, "Amos got us some apples and I made turnovers for lunch, but I used the last of the sugar and it's expensive, so get back to work! You all are going to put on a really good show tonight so I can get the cash from Amos to buy more tomorrow."

In the building next door, the grey fox closed the door behind the two bunnies and sighed as he took a seat at his desk. He stared for a few moments at the papers on the desk and then up at Judy before asking, "Are yoz from the future too?"

* * *

 **A note about the use of seemingly misspelled words in this story. Many (but not all) words that are misspelled in this story are done purposely in an attempt to convey to the reader some of the character's accents.**


	15. The Steel Walkers

**Chapter 15: The Steel Walkers**

* * *

" _ **Time travel causes chaos, and chaos doesn't follow your rules. That's why it's called chaos, dummy."**_ _\- Professor Charles Smart in_ _The Hangman's Revolution._

 **Judy and Nick catch the afternoon tram to H-Town. Miss Judy and Rubin try to convince Amos to tell them where Nick went.**

* * *

 **1925**

Judy finally returned back her companion, it had taken her about half an hour to find the correct ticket booth and then to purchase two tickets for the afternoon tram to Happy Town. The small booth was not located inside near the other commercial carriers, but outside near the tracks. She sat down next to Nick, the fox was still looking both worn and in pain.

"Well Fluff, we've got twenty one dollars and thirty five cents to our names," the fox commented as he stretched out trying to make himself more comfortable on the hard wooded bench. "I have no idea if that is good or bad?"

"The tickets were only a nickel each," Judy replied with a smile. "Although the ticket clerk kept asking me if I knew the kind of tram I was planning to travel on. He kept warning me to keep my bag close to me, because I would be riding with all kinds of undesirables. No, what he said the tram was full of low lifes such as coons, yotes, chompers, and even you FOXES!"

Nick gave her a smirk before he read out the tram operator's name. "Harness and Wolfe Transport Company, I wonder what ever happened to them? "

"Probably went under with everyone driving cars," she replied as she dug around in the old beat up carpet bag she was carrying. Pulling out a couple of sandwiches, she handed Nick the larger one and peered into the other one, to see what was inside. "Mable made us some sandwiches for the trip. They are all vegetarian, sorry but she had no eggs left after breakfast."

"It's not the first time I've shared a vegetarian lunch with my partner," Nick chuckled as he unwrapped his sandwich. "Wax paper, I guess they haven't invented plastic sandwich bags yet?" He hesitated and looked around for a moment more before he asked her, "You didn't see if there was a water fountain where I can get a sip? I think I'll take a couple of these pills."

"Nick, there's one right over there," the rabbit replied as she pointed at the old fashioned white porcelain bowl, with its stainless steel fountain head, that hung on the wall across the hallway.

"Tsk…Tsk…Tsk!" the fox dramatically sighed out. "You'll never make detective if you don't pay attention to all the details, Carrots."

"What?" the rabbit asked as she looked up from her sandwich. Her nose twitched in confusion as she looked around.

"The sign Fluff! Read the sign," Nick chuckled. "How could you miss the sign?"

Judy looked over and frowned as she read the black and white sign affixed upon ï wall next to the fountain. "You've got to be kidding me!" she huffed out in anger. "They can't do that!"

"Yes, they can," Nick said as he shook his head. "That's a PREY ONLY water fountain. I'm so sure the PREDITOR fountain will be just as nice…NOT! I wonder where it's located or if it's even inside? You know the law was...is...separate but equal, like that'll ever happen."

"Well that's just not fair!" Judy snapped out as she jumped up and looked around. "No one is watching. Come on you can take a quick drink now!"

"Nope!" Nick grunted. "I couldn't afford to get caught, they'd call the cops. No, they would beat me up first and then call the cops."

"Well, I think we can spare some money to buy you a cup of coffee!" Judy said as she put her sandwich down of the bench and hopped up again with renewed enthusiasm. "You just stay here and I'll be right back!"

A few minutes later she stepped out of the diner with empty paws and frowned as she saw the fox slowly walking her direction. "I told you I would be right back," she said as she ran over and yanked the bag from his paws, almost sending him sprawling. "Why are you over here?"

"Wrong side of the station," he shrugged as he limped along. "They asked…no, told me in no uncertain terms to move." He looked at her again and added, "No coffee?"

"No disposable coffee cups," Judy sighed out in resignation. "I guess they too haven't been invented yet?"

"If we're stuck here, that the second thing I'm inventing," Nick chuckled as he limped down the hallway. "Right after I figure out how to make soft toilet paper." He limped a little further and then looked down at her again with a grin, "Don't let me forget to invent the Mai Tai, so I can drink one while I watch my beach bunny surf."

"I've already told you, I don't surf!" she giggled back as she smiled up at him.

"A fox can only dream!" he replied with a laugh.

They found the "right side" of the station and there was an empty bench they could sit upon as they waited. Nick found the "proper" water fountain and took his pills, although some eyebrows were raised in surprise when Judy chose to use the same fountain herself, but no one objected. The two friends just sat and talked as they waited until it was finally time to leave.

Judy pulled the fox's paws to help him stand and he stiffly walked to the crowded tram, it was a slightly beat up red and white trolley resting on iron tracks with a long rod reaching up to the overhead electrical line. The rabbit jumped as the rod occasionally sparked and she could not help but notice that not only was she the only prey species aboard, but also that she was the only female. She was immediately offered a seat and after looking at Nick and his condition, a stout raccoon gave up the seat next to hers.

Among the riders in the packed trolley was a large contingent of raccoons and coyotes dressed in grimy work cloths. "Steelworkers," Nick whispered. "They are building the skyscrapers and the Wall. Those coyotes are some of the best riveters around, neither species show a fear of heights. I remember reading that they came down from the Greene Mountains in the north for the work."

"I thought most of the coyotes lived in the Canyonlands?" she whispered back. "They were all farmers and such."

"Different tribe," Nick replied before he winced as the trolley bumped along the tracks.

"Someone beat you good fox," the raccoon who had given up his seat called out. "Hope you gave him back the same."

Nick looked over at the smiling raccoon in the dark blue overalls. "Naw, I was just asked a few questions by the authorities and they didn't like my answers."

There was laughter from many of the riders. "Billy's dad once had the same problem," the raccoon nodded towards a thin brownish grey furred coyote. "He didn't say a word during the whole so called questioning."

"My dad would have answered their questions if they had only asked please," Billy chuckled. "He felt they were being disrespectful to an elder. After they finished beating him, they stuck him in a cell and he'd probably still be there if the foremammal hadn't come looking for him. The rest of us wouldn't work until he was freed. Money talks louder than prejudice in this city and the construction company didn't want any delays."

"Do you all live in Happy Town?" Judy inquired. The bunny was the center of attention anyways as the other riders wondered what SHE was doing with a fox on the trolley. "Why don't you live nearer to your work?"

"They complained that we'd bring down the quality of a neighborhood," one of the coyotes replied as he waved his paw dismissively into the air. "So we live outside of the city in Shantytown."

"I've never heard of Shantytown?" Nick asked. "Is there really such a town?"

"Not so much a town," the raccoon laughed. "We just built houses along the track. The yote tribal elders run the place and they even built a large lodge house where everyone is welcome."

After a while, the tram came to a jerking stop at a huge cluster of tarpaper and wood slat shacks. In the center was a large cinder block structure. "Shantytown in all its glory," the raccoon scoffed. "Ain't much, but its home." Both the rabbit and the fox had to smile as they watched the workers disembark and immediately get swarmed by their children. Raccoon kits and coyote puppies played alongside of each other in the organized squalor of the brown dirt streets. Further away from the tracks, a makeshift baseball game was being played in an empty lot.

"You'd think they would be in school this time of day?" Judy mused.

"Do you see a school?" Nick whispered and then he sat back and looked around with a frown. "It's hard to believe all this is going to be gone in the future, without a single trace left? You'd think there would be a historical sign or something?"

"I think this will become part of city we have nicknamed Rabbit Town in the future," Judy whispered back. "Condos, apartments, and strip malls will replace all of this. I guess you can call it gentrification at its worse."

"That's sort of sad," Nick sighed out before he winced as the tram began its tortuous journey, bumping and jerking down the tracks. He watched the happy children and the adults as they pulled away. "These are the guys who built the city and they are almost forgotten in the future."

"Are you going to be okay?" Judy asked as she looked up at her companion. He looked tired and worn out by the painful journey.

"Let me just lay down on a bench for a while," he seemed to slur out as he stretched out and she blushed as he used her lap as a pillow. Several of the remaining riders gave surprised looks at the odd couple, but no one spoke out or complained. There were no snide remarks calling Nick a prey chaser or about her, just a few smiles and within a few moments the fox was sound asleep.

* * *

Back at the fairgrounds, the grey fox looked the two rabbits over. "Yoz look and even smell like Judy…too much like her," Amos stated as he stared at the doe. "Yoz ain't no sister or cousin are yoz?"

Judy looked briefly at Rubin and shook her head. "So I take it Nick told you that he was from the future?" she asked and when the fox nodded, she continued. "Somehow I got sent here by the same Nick to stop him from doing something bad, something that will change the future in a way which he doesn't like. I've got to find him and stop him from doing whatever he is planning to do, so tell me where did he go?"

"Are you going to hurt him?" the fox asked. "Nick seems like a good guy." He looked her over again and then at the buck, his right paw clutched the small pistol inside his coat pocket. "Are yoz the doe who mugged the copper and dun took his gun?"

The rabbit doe looked the grey fox in the eyes, "I'm not sure what I'm up against, or even what Nick expects me to do to stop him, but I'm not going into this thing unprepared."

"What about him." Amos nodded towards Rubin. "He ain't part of this, is he?"

"I'm not letting Miss Judy go into this alone without my help!" the buck defiantly replied as he bowed up for a fight.

"I figured that much when I smelled that yoz had marked her," the fox sighed out as he pulled his paw out of his pocket and leaned back in his chair. He looked around the room before turning his gaze back on the two rabbits. "If I felt yoz two were gonna hurt Nick, yoz wouldn't be leaving this room. But something tells me in muh gut that yoz need to find the fox, so I'll tell yoz that he's on his way to Happy Town. They've already skedaddled and the next tram over thar ain't until seven tonight. Now get the hell out of here and take those two foxes wid yoz, I don't like the way Karen was looking at the big one. My girls need to practice and not be distracted by those tods."

* * *

 **Most of New York City's greatest buildings, from the Empire State Building to the ill-fated World Trade Center, had large contingents of Mohawk ironworkers of the Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Six Nations in the construction crews. They are said to be some of the best ironworkers on the planet.**

 **As for a raccoon's agility, determination, and fearlessness of heights, I remind you of the coon who scaled the 25 story** **UBS Plaza Building in downtown Saint Paul this past June.**

 **Interurban tramways were electric railcars which connected cities to smaller towns or nearby cities. Although they were very popular in the US Midwest and California during the early part of the 1900's,** **by 1925 they were beginning to become unprofitable.**


	16. Lost and Found

**Chapter 16: Lost and Found**

* * *

" _ **It all started when a time travel experiment I was conducting went a little ka-ka. In the blink of a cosmic clock I went from quantum physicist to air force test pilot, which could have been fun if I knew how to fly."**_ _– Doctor Sam Beckett in_ _Quantum Leap_ _._

 **Miss Judy, Rubin, and the Grey brothers go back for the gun and find more than they expected. Jack is frustrated by his ongoing investigation.**

* * *

 **1925**

"Zach, yer just a plumb fool sometimes!" the fox's brother laughed after he finished shimmying back under the wooded fence and slipped into the woods on the other side. "That purdy lil thing had you wrapped around her claw."

"Aw, she was dun sweet on me," the other fox scoffed back as he wiped himself off to get the twigs and leaves off his tail.

"She was only up and sweet on yer cash!" Ezekiel snickered as he playfully punched his brother's arm. "Ya really a think'in that a fancy dancy girl like that would cotton a shine to an old hick like ya?""

"Ain't many vixens 'round our parts brother," Zachariah grumbled. "Although she looked like she'd be a might fun under the sheets, she shore didn't look like a farmer's wife."

"HA! Now ya gonna up and marry her!" the other fox chuckled before he called out the the female rabbit doe. "Miss Judy, did ya know any Greys in yer time?"

"Barnabas Grey has a farm not far from my family's place and I know his brother Gideon," she replied, her paw reached up and touched the scars that the fox had left on her cheek when she was younger. "He was a bit of a bully when he was younger, but he grew up to be a nice guy."

"Must be one of muh kits!" Zachariah laughed as he lightly pushed his brother. "Yers would be mean as a snake on a hot rock!"

"Miss Judy, are there still any Warrens around them parts?" Ezekiel asked, while pushing back at his brother. "They're thick as thieves now days."

"Plenty of Warrens," Judy giggled as he squeezed Rubin's paw. "Almost as many as there are Hoopersons, Bagwells, and Hopps. "

"How'd ya rabbits figure you ain't related?" one of foxes asked.

Rubin looked over at him and gave a sigh. "Zach you know there the book downtown at the library. You look her up in the book and it will tell how many generations you are related, if at all."

"There's an app for that in the future," Judy added as she finished dusting herself off.

"What's an app?" all three males suddenly asked together. The foxes' heads were cocked sideway in curiosity and Rubin's nose was twitching.

"On my cell phone," Judy began to explain and then she shook her head. "Never mind, it's a future thing." She straightened out her dress and then looked at Rubin. "Have you told your father that you're going to be late?"

"Oh no!" the buck replied. "I need to send a telegram and do so before we leave."

"Why don't you and Zach go and do so, while Ezekiel and I retrieve the gun," Judy suggested. "We'll meet you at the truck." She watched as the buck left with the tod and then turned to the other fox.

"The gun is down yonder," the fox said as he began to walk into the woods. "Miss Judy, thar ain't very many does who would go a wandering into the dark woods wid a fox she just dun met."

"You and your brother seem to be Rubin's best friends," she replied as she followed him down a worn pathway. "Besides, I'm a trained police officer and an expert in self-defense."

"We three have dun been together since we waz just a walkin," Ezekiel replied as he pushed a few branches aside. "I love him like he waz muh brother." The fox hesitated as he looked back at the bunny. "Miss Judy, ah don't know why ya two cottoned up together so fast, but ah reckon he loves ya and I ain't talkin no puppy love. Just do me a favor and if'n you don't feel the same, then just let'em go."

"I don't know what it is about him, but it's almost like I'm finally whole when I'm with him," she answered as she looked up at the fox.

The fox in the flannel shirt looked back down at her and shook his head, "Ah reckon maybe true love is...ah, true?"

"Ezekiel, can I ask you a question?" she blurted out. "Why do you act like a dumb country hick? I can tell that you aren't as ignorant as you act."

The fox smiled and shook his head, "It aint that…" he sighed before continuing. "When yer a fox, folks figure ya to be either sly and uppity or slow and dumb. That's just the way things are in life, but back home it don't near matter like it does here. Farmers dun treat ya 'cause of what ya do and not so much the way ya look. I'm a sharecropper and make my way a tilling land that Rubin's family done own, but ah don't mind cause it's a livin and thar is worse ways to make it through life. As for muh learnin, I love ta read and muh schoolin ain't half bad, thanks to Rubin gettin me stuff ta read from his school when we growed up. The folks in charge don't like us preds to known too much learnin. If'n ya can't read, ya can't vote no how with them Blue Laws."

"I remember hearing about the reading qualifications and poll taxes being used to keep poor rural predators from voting," Judy sighed as she followed the fox further down the path. "I'm sorry, but things don't get much better in the future."

"Figures…"Ezekiel replied as he came to a halt by a hollowed out fallen tree. He peered inside and then looked around in panic. "It ain't here Miss Judy, someone's done took it!"

"Are you sure this is where you left it?" she asked as she watched the muscular fox leaned over and begin carefully sniffing the ground.

"Oh, yes'um and it smells like a cat been a rootin around these parts," he replied as he followed the scent towards the muddy bank of a nearby stream. "A fairly youngin at that too."

"We've got to get that gun back!" Judy replied in a panic as she chased after the fox, he was following the cat's scent and footprints through a tangle of shrubs and briars. The rabbit was amazed at the fox's ability to track the other animal and was shocked when she realized that the stories she had heard about the reddish furred predator's ability to stalk its prey must be true. Ezekiel moved quickly and deftly though the dark woods, using his nose almost as much as his eyes as he followed tracks and scents that she never could pick up upon. He also dropped several times down on all four paws as he silently moved through the underbrush. In the back of her mind, she felt a primal fear because she knew that a fox was on the hunt.

Ezekiel slowed down and held a paw up for the rabbit behind him to stop as he sniffed around before entering into a trash strewn clearing. There was a crude structure made from old wood, branches, and cardboard. "He's in the tree above us," the fox whispered as he pointed up towards a tall oak. Something moved slightly amongst the leaves.

The fox kept her from stepping closer as she looked upwards, her eyes narrowed when she saw that he was pointing towards a young bobcat kitten trying to hide behind the tree's trunk, while also holding the oversized gun. "Go away!" a young male voice yelled from above. "I've…I've…got a gun!"

Ezekiel stood up and held his paws in the air. "We ain't here to hurt ya!" he called out as he stepped into the clearing. "That thar is our gun and we just want it back!"

"How do I know you aren't with them?" the tomcat asked. His young voice was trembling in fear and Judy knew that cat was scared stiff.

"Get back!" she hissed quietly at Ezekiel as she stepped past him with her paws in the air. "Go back into the woods, you're scaring him." The fox nodded as he disappeared into the shrubs. "Who are you hiding from?" she called out.

"The police!" the cat answered. Judy could see that the kitten was thin and grimy. Her eyes scanned the campsite, remnants of trash and stolen items littered the ground, he had obviously been hiding for a long time.

"Do you know any rabbits who are police officers?" she called back. "You do know they would never let my friend become one either, because he's a fox. Where is your family and your parents?"

"The police officers took them away and I can't find them," the kitten began to sob. "Daddy told me to hide until he came back for me, but he never came back. Mommy never came back either."

"Come on down and we'll get you something to eat and maybe we can figure out where your parents are?" Judy lowered her paws and began to walk towards the tree. "Surely you're not going to shoot a girl? Besides kiddo, I'm hiding from the police too."

The cat sniffled as he looked down at her and then nodded before he tried to balance the gun as he begin to climb down the tree. Finally he lost his grip, dropping the gun as he frantically tried to dig his claws into the tree trunk as he began to fall. Judy was startled as something reddish orange rushed past her and then saw it was Ezekiel. "Gotcha!" the fox triumphantly called out before he stumbled backwards and went sprawling onto the ground with the bobcat kitten safely clutched in his arms. The gun landed with a thud near Judy's feet and she leaned over to pick it up, sighing with relief when she realized that it wasn't cocked.

"How old are ya little feller?" the fox asked as he let the kitten loose while he slowly sat up.

"I'm almost nine," the cat answered as he pulled at his torn shirt and backed away towards his makeshift home. "I'll be nine this fall."

Judy looked the kitten over. His fur was matted and dirty, he was wearing a torn and grimy once white cotton dress shirt and had short brown wool knickers on. From his scent alone she could tell that he hadn't bathed in weeks, although she realized her companion was starting to smell a little gamey too and frowned when she imagined what she was beginning to smell like.

"You said you had some food?" the cat almost whispered in a hopeful voice.

Judy frowned as she realized that she had nothing in her bag to offer the young cat, but Ezekiel reached into his pocket and pulled out a half-eaten apple turnover wrapped in wax paper. "Ah was saving this fer latter, but yer up and starving, so here ya go!" the fox chuckled. "It's a bit smooshed since a cat done landed on it."

The cat snatched the turnover and hungrily bit into it, not even realizing that he had begun purring.

"Ah reckon ya waz a tad bit hungry?" the fox laughed as he stood up and wiped himself off. "Try a chewin bubba, ya gonna choke yerself ta death."

Judy put the gun back into her straw purse and watched the bobcat kitten eating, she sighed in dejection because now that Rubin and the Grey brothers had another escapee from the police that they had to deal with. She knew the two foxes and the buck would never let the poor kitten stay starving out in the woods alone, as if she would let them abandon him. "So what's your name," she finally asked as the kitten finished up the remains of his treat and was now greedily licking the wrapper.

"Ricky," the kitten answered with a soft sniffle, he looked so desperate and lost. "Can you take me home to my mommy and daddy?" he pleaded.

* * *

 **Present Day**

Agent Jack Savage shook his head in frustration. He had finally managed to transfer his only witness from the city's custody to that of the federal government. That simple task itself had suddenly become an ordeal, because of the chaos that the city was experiencing due to the arrest of Mayor Bellwether and her role in the chemical terrorism against predators. Now city was more or less in a state of lockdown, with federal assistance being sent to help the overstretched ZPD from being overwhelmed. The tall hare looked over at the raccoon sitting at the restaurant table and shook his head again, he was getting nowhere with his investigation into the disappearance of police officer Judy Hopps. Picking up his order of coffees from the counter, he walked back to the table and with a sigh began to ask his prisoner the same series of questions yet again, "Alright Jake, you said she was there and then she wasn't, what exactly did you see?"

The raccoon in the orange prisoner's jumpsuit sat back and reached his right paw up to lightly touch the bandages on his neck. The hospital doctor had confirmed that the poor guy had suffered second and third degree burns, caused the shock collars that the city was making all predators wear under the guise of "protecting" the prey from the predators ever going savage. "That's all I can tell you," the raccoon named Jake replied before he sipped the brew and smacked his lips with relish. Instead of continuing his answer, the former burglar added. "I haven't had a decent cup of java since I went to prison and have you tasted that swill the cops drink?"

"Answer my question," the agent replied with a thin forced smile. "Just one more time and think of anything you might have seen, no matter how trivial."

"I gave her the package and left to deliver mail down the hallway," Jake replied as he sat back in his chair. The raccoon looked around at the other customers inside the bistro and realized that most were now wearing black suits, just like the agent in front of him. "This place is swarming with guys from your agency, what's going on?"

"We are after anyone who was financing the terrorist that were manufacturing the drugs which were making everyone go bonkers," Savage replied. "The feds are pulling out all the stops. But, you didn't answer my question."

The raccoon ran his paws though the fur on top of his head in frustration. "Look she was there, I saw her open the package and pick up the watch and then she just disappeared! She just wasn't there anymore! I don't know what else I can tell you?"

"Disappeared?" Jack Savage repeated as he leaned back and shook his head. "Nobody just disappears."

"SHE DID!" the raccoon cried out in frustration. "SHE JUST DID!"

The jackrabbit's phone beeped and he looked down at the message from his assistant. "Heads up boss! The director was asking me if you've found out anything on the Hopps case? He said that he doesn't care about the bunny going missing, just if and how Nick Wilde figured out time travel."

"Great, I've got nothing!" he mumbled to himself.


	17. On the Road Again

**Chapter 17: On the Road Again**

* * *

" _ **When I grow up, I want to be an inventor. First I will invent a time machine. Then I'll come back to yesterday and take myself to tomorrow and skip this dumb assignment." -**_ Calvin writing his school assignment in a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip.

 **Nick has a slight problem with his medication. While Miss Judy and the boys make a pit stop to clean up both themselves and a really filthy kitten before they head to town in search of the fox.**

* * *

 **1925**

The fox gave out a little snore as the tram finished bouncing its way towards the town. Happy Town was an old mill town and unlike the city they had left behind, it had a large predator population. There was also a huge economic disparity from one side of the town to the other, divided by the many railroad tracks which carried wool or cotton to and from the mills. On one side of the tracks stood the grand and stately manors of the rich, hugging the top of a long tall mountainous ridge and seemingly brooding down upon the brick and stone apartments of the mill workers and modest homes of the middle class. The mills themselves lined the banks of the river, using huge water wheels to turn the turbines which ran the spinning and weaving equipment inside as they ran from dusk to dawn.

Across the tracks lay another world, greying wooden tenements and boarding houses dominated these neighborhoods, all of which were packed full of working class predators. Unlike their prey neighbors on the "right side of the tracks", the only displays of wealth belonged to the many prey visitors who appeared at night. The wealthy from the big city came in their fancy cars, wearing their finest clothes to be wined and dined at the many clubs and juke joints which had sprung up on the town's main drag. They came for the "exotic pelt" music and dancing, the sounds of jazz and ragtime filled the air. It was here that the rich could find less legitimate forms of entertainment. Despite Prohibition, liquor flowed freely and other delights could be found in the clubs, speakeasies and clip joints, ranging from the excitement of gambling to the erotic pleasures of prostitution. The law turned a blind eye while the police officers uniform's pockets were stuffed with bribes as they looked the other way.

Happy Town may have been a mill town, but it was now also a mob town.

But underlying all of this grander and squalor was a growing resentment among both the predators, living in their poverty, and the workers on the other side of the tracks, who could barely survive on their meager wages. It wouldn't be long before a spark ignited this powder keg of resentment and that spark would be caused by a fox.

Aboard the tram, Nick awoke with a dazed look as the car bumped to a stop at a rundown weathered wooden platform which served as a station. The fox blinked several times and held a paw to his head as he groggily tried to sit up. Finally with Judy's pushing, he slumped somewhat upright in the seat. Turning to her, he gave his companion a goofy grin. "You look so pretty in that dress, Carrrroooottts!" he slurred out.

"Nick, are you feeling okay?" the rabbit asked as she gripped his arm to keep him from falling out of the seat. "You're acting weird, even for you!"

"I'm purrrrfe…purrrfect…I'm fine Flufffffy," he said as he tried to stand. "Whoa! Who moved the ground?"

Judy grabbed him again and he fell forward this time, sprawling into her and knocking her over. She found herself pinned to the bench, with him lying on top of her. "Nick focus!" she snapped at him as she tried to push him away.

He looked down at her, his green eyes were dilated and he still had that same stupid grin plastered on his muzzle. "Have I ever told you that you are really…really…really," he blinked a few times as he seemed to be gathering his thoughts, before he slurred out. "Rrrrreally...sexy and by the gods, I want to kiss you!"

"Nick!" Judy began to protest as his long tongue slowly licked her cheek, causing her felt cap to fall off and freed of their confines, her blushing ears shot straight up.

"Steady my friend," a deep voice spoke and the rabbit saw a pair of large black furred paws grip Nick's shoulders. Judy looked up and saw a muscular middle-aged pure black timber wolf in a blue conductor's uniform standing above them. There was a brass name badge on his uniform's chest pocket that read J. Wolfe. "Your friend seems to be a tad out of it."

"I'm not sure what is wrong with him?" Judy said as she reached over with her paw and touched Nick's forehead. She gave a squeak when the fox licked her paw.

"Tasty…" Nick muttered.

The wolf saw the bag of pills on the ground next to the fox and picked it up, he sniffed inside and frowned. "Did your friend know these pills aren't aspirin? I'm not sure what's in them, maybe codeine?"

Judy was shocked as she took the bag and looked inside, "We thought they were only aspirin, he took two of the pills."

"Well that explains a lot!" the wolf laughed. "Come on and let's get him off the tram. He just needs to find a place to curl up and sleep this off, you live anywhere around here?"

"No, we're from out of town," the rabbit sighed as she gathered their few belongings and followed the wolf as he helped Nick onto the platform. She grimaced as the fox's feet gave out and he began to fall, only to be propped up by the conductor. "We had to leave the city…"

"I overheard your conversation with the other riders," the wolf chuckled. "He's not the first fox who's been in this condition. The muscular wolf stopped and bent over, slinging the fox over his shoulder like a sack of oats. "Come on, let's go visit Minnie and see what she can do for your friend."

"Carrrrottts save meeee!" Nick cried out as he reached down towards her, before he finally when slack.

She followed the wolf across the street to a small store and with a shove, they entered into the building. A curvy middle aged silver maned fox stood there in a blue dress and looked at the wolf, the fox, and then the rabbit. "Is he drunk?" was all she asked.

"Nope, accidentally drugged," the wolf chuckled. "He needs someplace to sleep it off."

"Take him to the second room to the left and push old Rudy over if he's sprawled out across the bed. Damn warthog's been in the strawberry wine already and the suns not even down," she ordered. Turning to Judy, she looked her over with a smirk as she sniffed the bag of pills and then licked one. "It'll be a buck for the night and trust me from what I'm tasting in these pills, he's going to be out for the whole night darling." She put the pills onto the counter and looked the bunny over before asking, "You ain't a chippy are you?"

"No!" Judy snapped back in surprise and then she frowned before asking. "What's a chippy?"

"A girl without virtues, I don't like loose broads in my place," the fox chuckled. "So, then is he your lover? If you two want the same bed, it'll be two bits more for me to move Rudy to the sofa."

"We are not lovers, just friends!" Judy huffed out in growing agitation.

The conductor returned and looked at the two females. "He's settled in, I took his clothes off except for those strange shorts. "

"You're such a good boy," Minnie said as he reached up and kissed him. "Now get back to work, you've got another run back to the city and it would be nice if you were on time for once." She slapped at his swishing tail as he walked towards the door. After watching the wolf leave, the fox walked towards the rear of the shop and reached up into a cabinet. "I didn't mean to offend you dear, it's just I have never seen a bunny with a fox before. There's a large chair in the room that you can curl up in tonight for free, just don't let your friend get sick on my stuff. He may wake up a few times during the night, so watch out because the drugs might also make him a little giddy. But for now, how about I make both you and me a nice cup of tea?"

* * *

"You go to get a gun and come back with a kitten?" Rubin asked the rabbit and the fox in a dumbfounded tone. He and Zachariah had returned to the truck after sending the telegram to his father. "What are we going to do with a kitten?"

"His parents were taken by the police," Judy replied as she watched the two foxes talking with the grimy cat. "We just can't leave him living under a tree, can we?"

"Lordy Miss Judy, you're going to be the death of me yet!" the buck sighed as he shook his head before he looked over at the foxes and sighed again. "Come on guys lets load up the truck, we're heading to Happy Town."

"Hot damn!" Zachariah happily called out as he began gathering up their belongings. "I up and heard that H-Town is the cat's meow!"

His brother stopped and looked over at him and then over at Ricky, the kitten also looked perplexed. "Were'd you dun heared that fancy talk?" he asked. "A reckon that's supposed to be good?"

"Learned it from that purdy twist, ah mean that vixen, I was sparkin wid at the tent," Zachariah snickered. Then he looked down at the clothes he was wearing and that of the kitten. "We shore can't go thar lookin like this! I was jawin with this feller outside of the telegraph station and he dun said thar was a ragmammal's place not too far yonder. We could set us up with some new duds, so we don't look like rubes. Besides, my wear'n to church on Sunday's clothes are a might too tight nowadays."

"Zach we need to keep moving if Miss Judy is going to catch up to this Nick guy," Rubin sighed out. "Come on, we need to get loaded up."

"They have hot water baths…" Zachariah added as he looked over at Judy with a hopeful smile. "This little feller has gone beyond ripe."

Judy shook her head and sighed, "Okay, we do need to clean up some and then afterwards I want to talk with Ricky about his parents."

"I don't want a bath!" the kitten objected. "Cats don't like water!"

"Too bad feller, cause you dun stink like a pile of manure from the neighboring cow family's outhouse!" Ezekiel laughed. "Come on let's get loaded."

Ricky stepped towards the old truck's door as he tried to hop into the front seat, but a pair of reddish orange paws grabbed him and tossed him into the rear bed. "You're up and riding wid us foxes in the back, preds don't sit wid prey no how. Sides, you dun stink too much to be round fine folks like Miss Judy.

The kitten sulked for a while, as the old Model TT rumbled out of the parking lot and onto the dirt road.

They traveled a few miles down the road until they were just outside of the city limits, where Rubin parked the car in front of a large barnlike building. Tentatively Zachariah pushed the door open and was immediately greeted by an unusual looking chubby male animal in a white shirt and blue broadcloth pants. "Welcome…welcome! Please come inside to my humble establishment!" the black and grey furred mammal called out as he bowed.

"I've never seen anyone like him," Rubin muttered as he watched the proprietor bow. "He almost looks like a raccoon."

"He's a tanuki from the orient, a relative to the foxes," Judy whispered. "There is one who works for the International Bureau at ZNN."

"What's ZNN," the buck whispered back and then seeing her look, he quickly added. "Let me guess, it's a future thing?" His remarks were greeted by a peck on his cheek.

After the foxes told the owner what they wanted, he began to enthusiastically lay out several cloths for them to look over. Nothing was of the best quality and all showed some wear, it was then that Judy realized that this was a type of thrift shop. The tanuki held up several suits and Judy's ears flicked when she heard Ezekiel ask about the baths, to which the proprietor called out to someone else in a foreign language. A few moments later, a portly female tanuki in a red silk robe came into the room and bowed before slipping into the backroom again.

"It's not the latest style, but it is very, very nice," she heard the owner tell Zachariah as he held a dark grey suit up for the fox to inspect. "I got it from my cousin and it is just your size."

Zachariah held up the suit's jacket and frowned. "Just how did yur cousin get his paws on this?" the fox asked.

"He works for the city morgue," the owner chuckled. "The fox who last wore this didn't need such a nice suit where he was going. Look…look…my wife did a good job mending the bullet hole too! You can barely see it and the blood stains are all gone."

The fox and the tanuki haggled over the price for a while, before they finally shook paws.

"Excuse me please," the owner's wife called out from the doorway as she bowed again. "Your bath is ready."

"Come on stinker!" Ezekiel growled as he grabbed the kitten by the scuff of his neck. "You're first bubba. I reckon we'll take him with us if'n thats all right with you Miss Judy."

"I don't want to take a bath!" Ricky wailed. "We cats hate water!"

"I don't care," the fox chuckled. "Us foxes don't like stinky cats none neither."

About an hour later, the two still damp foxes returned with the now clean kitten wrapped in a towel. "He dun tried to claw me!" Zachariah complained. "Ah reckon cats really don't up and care for water?"

"Come on bubba, let's and find you some britches and a shirt," Ezekiel chuckled. "While we get dressed in our new duds."

"Miss Judy, I drained and refilled to tub fer you," Zachariah said. "The water is nice and hot too, I even put some lavender in ta make it smell purdy!"

The rabbit was sitting at a table drinking tea and talking to the owner's wife. Whatever they were talking about had the tanuki giggling. "Go ahead Rubin," Judy called over to the buck. "I'll wait." The tanuki giggled again and the doe blushed as she watched the male rabbit leave the room.

The thin, but muscular, buck entered the bathing room and looked at the large copper tub full of water. After stripping naked and carefully folding his clothes, he slid into the hot water with a satisfied sigh as the wet warmth engulfed him. Back home he always had to share the wash tub with two or three of his brothers, so this was a luxury he never had before. He groaned with pleasure and closed his eyes as he soaked away the aches and pains, while humming to himself.

Suddenly there was a noise and the door creaked open. The buck looked over and expected to see one of his friends standing there, but instead it was the rabbit doe wearing a blue silken oriental robe. "MISS JUDY!" he exclaimed in panic and he began to reach for his towel in order to cover himself. "I'm not finished!

"I know, but I thought you might want to share the water?" she meekly answered. Her ears were a scarlet red from blushing as she closed the door and then dropped her robe into a pool at her feet.

Downstairs, the foxes both snickered as they heard their best friend huskily exclaim again, "Miss Judy!" The owner's wife looked up from her sewing machine, where she was doing some adjustments to the kitten's new shirt, and giggled.

"What's going on?" Ricky innocently asked the two grinning foxes as he looked around.

"You're a tad too young ta understand bubba." Ezekiel laughed.

* * *

 **The ZNN** **International Bureau anchor Miss Judy refers to is** **Michael Tanuyama, who replaced Peter Moosebridge in the movie's Japanese release.**

 **A Juke Joint was often a legal or illegal** **bar which usually was only know by it's address and had no name. "It's at the cross-roads" was often the directions that were given to find such a establishment. Their history comes from the rural African-American communities in the South, as places where they could congregate for drinking, music, gambling and dancing. The Blues and Ragtime both came from the Juke Joints, giving birth to Jazz.  
**

 **Speakeasies were illicit drinking establishments that florished during the Prohibition years. Often these clubs had** **legitimate businesses as false fronts, such as a soda shop or florest. One would "speak easy" about it's location, so that the law did not know of its whereabouts.**

 **Clip Joints a** **re shady establishments where** **customers are lured inside with promises of sex or other such questionable entertainment and then tricked into unknowingly paying excessive amounts of money for poor quality or watered down drinks and none of that promised entertainment. Bette Davis starred in the movie the _Marked Woman,_ which portrayed such a place.**  
 **  
**


	18. Talk about a Fox

**Chapter 18: Talk about a Fox**

* * *

" **Come here, cat. You wouldn't want to destroy the space-time continuum, would you? Meow. Meow." –** Connie Willis, _To Say Nothing of the Dog_

 **Agent Savage makes a visit to someone who knows just about everything that is going on in the city. Miss Judy, Rubin, Ricky and the Grey brothers try to fix a tire.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

Agent Jack Savage watched as the armored vehicles, with their flashing lights and sirens, screamed down the highway towards the Meadowlands. The federal government had declared the city under a state of emergency and was now moving troops and departmental agents into the area. Riots had broken out in Hyenahurst, along with the predator heavy ghettos of Happy Town and the Nocturnal District. But this wasn't of any concern to the thin jackrabbit in the black suit, his job was to investigate the disappearance of a police officer named Judy Hopps in hopes of finding out how a red fox by the name of Nick Wilde had broken the time barrier and then secure this technology for the government.

"Things are getting out of paw," he spoke on a secured line to his assistant, a suave tomcat named Minos. "I'm not finding anything so far to explain the rabbit's disappearance, there is no evidence that Judy Hopps even time traveled. Have Penny pull up anything in the archives and online about anyone named Judy Hopps that she can locate, I need to know if she is the same Judy Hopps who Wilde claims that the Zootopia City Chief of Police, Richard Ramsey, murdered in 1925." He cut off the call as the sleek black Weasel Martin DB 10 sports sedan entered the tunnel leading from the hot desert sands of Sahara Square into the ice and snow of Tundratown. Half an hour later, he pulled the car up to a gate in front of an imposing snow covered grey stone mansion. A black suited polar bear looked down at him with a frown, in the distance the hare could see the outline of several more bears holding large rifles and his eyes scanned the snow covered trees, narrowing at the sight of a camouflaged lynx aiming a high powered rifle at him.

"What do you want!" the bear menacingly growled. "You lost or something bunny boy?"

"Just tell Mister Big that Jack Savage is here," the agent replied with a forced bored tone.

"No one by the name of Big lives here sir," the bear responded as he looked inside the open window. "Again, are you lost little hopper?"

"Sure, have it your way!" Savage replied as he backed the sedan out onto the icy road and watched the gate close. Jamming the car into drive, he punched a button and spikes shot out of the car's wheels giving it the needed traction as he peeled the car around and rammed through the stout iron bars. The bear dove out of the car's way and Jack only winced once as bullets bounced off the armored vehicle and its thick windows. Punching another button on the steering wheel, a machine gun fired from under the grills, scattering the remaining polar bears.

The thin jackrabbit parked the car in front of the mansion's entry and one of the massive bears cautiously approached with a drawn pistol. The smaller agent opened the door and tossed his keys to the startled bear as he stepped out of the car with his paws in the air. "The name is Savage, Jack Savage," he said with a thin smile. "Tell Mister Big I need to talk to him about a fox."

* * *

 **1925**

Neither fox said anything as they climbed into the back of the old Furred Model TT truck, carefully finding someplace to sit so that they did not dirty their new suits and then they watched as the ginning buck opened the door for the smiling doe. The kitten was already settled between his two friends and looked up at Ezekiel. "I thought Miss Judy wanted to talk to me about my parents and the police?" he asked.

Zachariah looked down at him with a grin. "I reckon thar ain't no room fer you between those two right now," he snickered as he peeked inside and saw that the doe was snuggled under the buck's arm. "No bubba, ain't no room that's fer sure."

The three predators settled back into the rear of the truck as it bumped down the dirt road away from the city and towards the distant town. Zachary looked over at Ezekiel and then down at the kitten, who watched the tall skyscrapers of the city he was fleeing from glistening in the distance.

"I miss my mommy and daddy," Ricky sniffled. "Why can't I go home?"

"Son, yer momma and poppa want ya to be safe," Ezekiel sighed as he put a paw on the kitten's back. "We're a takin ya someplace whar the baddies can't get to ya."

The cat slowly nodded and wiped his eyes. "Did yer poppa say why the coppers were up and after ya'll?" Ezekiel asked as he ran his paw along the fur between the cat's ears, calming the kitten down.

"Daddy works in a big office at a fancy flower shop downtown," Ricky said. "His boss is a fat bossy jaguar named Al and daddy keeps his books for him."

Ezekiel looked over at Zachariah with concern. "Waz this feller named Al Catpone?" he asked.

"Yeah, daddy came home after work and told my mommy we had to leave," the kitten continued. "He had a black book in his paws and went into the backyard and got a shovel. Then he loaded us up into the car and drove down to the cemetery."

"The cemetery?" Zachariah asked.

"He took the shovel and the book with him as he went inside the gates, leaving me and mommy in the car," Ricky replied. "He came back with neither and told mommy that grandma wouldn't mind."

"Is yer granny a buried thar?" Ezekiel quickly asked and the kitten nodded.

"We left and began to drive down the road and I was so excited when I saw that we were near the fair, I was asking mommy if we could go there when it opened," the kitten continued his story. "Then a police car pulled us over and the police officers began yelling at daddy. Daddy told me to run and hide until he came for me. I jumped out of the car and ran towards the woods, that's when I heard a loud bang and then another. The police came looking for me, but I hid in a tree. They came several times, but they were all rams and they never looked up."

Ezekiel was stunned as he looked over at Zachariah again. "Sweet gods! Ah reckon we need to tell Miss Judy 'bout this!"

"You think mommy and daddy are at home?" Ricky asked with tears in his eyes. But neither fox answered, Ezekiel just put his paw over the kitten and pulled him closer.

Suddenly there was a popping noise and the car weaved slightly to the left. Both foxes grabbed the truck's sides as Rubin pulled off the road. "Damn!" Zachariah cursed. "I thought we dun fixed that thar tire afore we left home?"

"Ya did," Ezekiel frowned. "Come on, get up and dig out the patch kit, tire iron, and the pump. We're gonna have to up an yank off the tire and fix the tube again. Don't go a messen up yer new duds, fox!"

Rubin stood there and let go a steam of creative curses as he looked at the tire. His ears turned red as he looked up at Judy and gave her a small smile, "Sorry Miss Judy, I didn't mean to for you to hear me cussing like that. It just we forgot that papa took the car's jack out before we left, so my brothers could lift up the tractor's front end."

"You're kind of cute when you get huffy," she giggled as she hopped out of the truck. "I suppose you don't have Triple A do you?"

"Another future thing?" he asked with a smile as he shook his head.

"Are they going to start kissing again," the kitten asked.

"Sure hope so bubba," Zachariah chuckled. "But let's see what's a layin 'round in the field yonder, so we can lift up the car's front end."

The two foxes and the cat began to walk into the field looking for a stout branch and some logs to make a makeshift lift. Ricky ran out further into the field then the two foxes and ran his paw through the grass and weeds as he looked around. Suddenly he stopped and glanced back towards some nearby trees, he sniffed the air and his ears laid flat. His eyes narrowed as he watched two young coyote pups in flannel shirts silently stand up from where they were hiding.

"Car troubles?" one of the pups asked, he looked to be a few years older than the bobcat, and his companion was younger. He was holding a brace of quail in his paws and his other brother had a bucket with what appeared to be greens and herbs.

"Yeah, we got a flat tire and are looking for some way to lift the car up so we can patch it," the kitten answered. "We don't have a jack."

"You're with foxes?" the oldest Coyote pup asked in an almost accusatory tone. "Are they flimflam artists?"

"I think they're farmers," he replied. "They are with that rabbit couple and promised to help me find my parents."

"Rabbits with foxes," the coyote said as he looked at the two foxes, who were now looking back with interest. "Pa said he saw a fox traveling with a rabbit on the tram earlier today. Your friends might want to watch themselves down there by the river, that's Old Hewinger's Farm and he doesn't like us down there when he's working...Oh oh, too late!"

Ezekiel looked back over at the kitten standing with the coyote pups on the other end of the field, his ears went flat on the top of his head when he heard a familiar cocking noise and turned to face an elderly beaver standing there with a wicked looking shotgun in his paws. "You don't look like a Revenuer to me," the overall clad farmer simply stated. "So, do you mind telling me why are you poking around my property?"

"Sorry to have up and disturbed ya," the fox said as he raised his paws over his head. "We waz just look'n fer sumtin to jack up the car." He tried not to sniff the wood smoke scent in the air, along with a familiar underlying tang.

"Damn foxes, your noses are about as good as a Revenuer's wolf's," the beaver grunted as he watched the fox's nose twitch. "Are you one of Piberius's boys?"

"No Suh, we waz just head'n into town and blew a tire," Ezekiel replied and then gave the farmer a grin as he looked into the woods. "You cuttin' rye into that thar shine?"

The beaver's eyes widened and then he smiled. "You know a thing or two about white lightning?"

"Can't say I done made any suh," the fox answered with a grin. "But I ain't tellen ya I haven't. Folk can make a fair penny or two wid the right stuff."

The beaver adjusted his glasses as he studied the fox and then lowered his gun. "You want to try a snort or two?" he asked as he shook his head. "I've been playing around with some honey wine to cut it with enough flavor for the city folks to enjoy, come on and give it a taste."

"Can I come too?" Zachariah asked as he stood up and stepped out of some tall grass just behind the farmer.

The beaver jumped in surprise and almost dropped his gun. "Damn sneaky pelt!" he yelled as he looked over at the other fox. "You about gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry 'bout that," Zachariah chuckled. "I weren't gonna let you up and shoot muh brother, even if your gun was only plum full wid bird shot."

"Bird shot!" the farmer scoffed as he slung the shot gun onto his shoulder. "It's full of rock salt! "It wouldn't have killed him, but sure would have sent him yipping down the road."

"Ya got the devil in ya!" Ezekiel laughed as he followed the farmer into the woods. "Ah reckon ya owe me a drink fer bein' so mean!" The foxes and the beaver all laughed as they disappeared into the dark woods.

Back at the car, Judy giggled out, "Stop it!" As Rubin pressed her against the cool metal of the Model TT's door, the buck was nuzzling her neck fur. "The guys might be back any moment and I still need to talk with Ricky."

"You started it in the bathtub Miss Judy," the male rabbit huskily accused her. His mouth found her and he pressed himself against her harder as they kissed.

"Car…mumph! Tire…cat...mumph!" the doe panted out as she pushed the buck away.

"Yes ma'am," Rubin sighed and gave her a grin as he stepped back onto the road. "I wonder what's taking the boys so long?" He hopped up into the back of the truck and glanced around. From the corner of his eye, he saw the doe fanning herself and leaned over to look down at her. "Hot?" was all he asked with a huge grin on his muzzle.

"Shut up! It's your entire fault!" she giggled back at him. "You made me go into heat!"

"Maybe that bath we took together earlier should have been cold and not warm?" the buck snickered as he stood up and looked around again. "I see Ricky with a few coyote pups, but no foxes."

His ears twitched and his tail gave a happy wiggle when he heard Judy whisper to herself, "I wish we were still back in that tub right now!"

Down by the river, Ezekiel smacked his lips as he lowered the brown and tan clay jug. "That thar is as fine of shine as ah have ever done tasted!" he proclaimed as he handed the container to his brother. "That honey suh does give it mighty fine flavor too!"

"Not too much?" the farmer asked as he accepted the jug from the other fox and took another swallow. Behind them was his moonshine still, a concoction of copper tubes and buckets next to a smoldering fire.

"Nope, I reckon it's plum right for city folks," Zachariah replied. "Good n' tasty."

"You asked us earlier if we waz with some feller named Piberius's?" Ezekiel asked before he took another sip.

"Reverend Piberius," he farmer grunted. "A rabble-rouser who's on the radio, that sly fox is stirring up the town folk by claiming that all you preds are equal and should be treated so. He's also preaching that the mill folks should unionize. He's been sending his followers around to get the farmers behind his nutty equal rights ideas. Equal rights...HA! You all are too lazy to run a successful farm."

Zachariah looked over at Ezekiel. The fox frowned slightly at the beaver bigoted ramblings and shook his head. "Ah cotton he don't drink none?"

"Claims that it's the devil's brew to keep the masses in place," the farmer shrugged.

"A sad lost soul," Ezekiel snickered. "But ah reckon we need to get that thar tire fixed."

"I'll go get my truck's jack and give you a paw!" the farmer offered.

"Right after a slug or two more," Zachariah laughed. "Shine and honey wine, ah like this!"

* * *

 **Of course a dashing special agent like Jack Savage would drive the Zootopian upgraded version of James Bond's Aston Martin DB 10 from** _ **Spectre.**_

 **Actually AAA or as Miss Judy called it, Triple A, was first founded in 1902. Emergency repair services were offered starting in 1915 and the company's Roadside Protection Program dates back to 1919. By 1925, they published both a hotel guide directory and a separate campground directory. The first of their famous tour books would be published the next year (1926). It's very doubtful that a farmer in the 1920's would have the service.**


	19. Godfathers & Preachers

**Chapter 19: Godfathers & Preachers **

* * *

**"This time travel crap, just fries your brain like an egg." -** Abe in _Looper_

 **Jack Savage continues his investigation in a very dangerous place. Judy learns more about a radical preacher.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

After a rough patting down, the thin Jackrabbit in the black suit was shoved into a dark drab cold room and stood on an plush oriental rug in front of a large sturdy oak desk. Jack Savage was dwarfed by the five large white polar bears, also in black suits, that looked down at him with disdained. The poorly lit room was bone seeping cold, with frost along the walls edges and along the window sills. The agent attempted to keep from shaking as his feet became numbed despite his standing on the rug. He looked with interest at the portraits of two female shrews which hung on the wall over the unused fireplace. Each painting was illuminated by several candles, giving the impression that they were part of a shrine on sorts. The nearby door creaked open and a tremendously large and muscular polar bear, standing at least eight feet in height or more, ducked as he entered the room. Thick gold chains lay against his black turtleneck shirt and glittered in the light, the agent could see the bear's massive muscles under his black suit jacket. "What do you want rabbit!" the bear growled in a thick northern accent.

"You are not Mister Big," the hare calmly answered as he stared up at the bear with his paws folded in front of him. "I came to speak to your boss Antonio Shrewetti, the Godfather of the Northern Mob and not to you Boris Koslov."

The bear gave a deep growl as he looked the agent over and then finally nodded to another polar bear standing in the doorway. The bear stepped up to the desk and gently sat down a shrew dressed in a black three piece suit, he was sitting in a small swivel chair.

"Mister Shrewetti," Jack savage said as he deeply bowed in respect to the shrew. "Thank you for granting me this meeting and I apologize for the intrusion."

"I am granting you nothing!" the shrew snapped back in a heavily accented voice. "You bust down my gate, shoot at my men and then demand to see me. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't have you thrown into the icy pit below your very feet?"

The hare tried not to look down at the rug he was standing upon, but instead gave the leader of one of the city's most powerful mobs a thin smile. "Because federal agents just do not disappear even in Zootopia, do they? At least not without some repercussions."

"You dare threaten me?" the shrew growled back as he leaned forward in anger.

"Not a threat, but an observation," Agent Savage replied as he held up a button on his sleeve. "We are being monitored, not recorded, just monitored by my associate and if something happened to me…well the gunship moving overhead will reduce this place into a pile of dust."

"LePaw, report!" Koslov frantically called into his radio. "What is happening outside?"

"A very large military blimp with really big cannons is slowly moving our direction," the lynx called back.

"As I said, just an observation," Jack slowly repeated himself.

The shrew leaned back in his chair and frowned for a moment, before a wicked smile came to his muzzle, "Well played Agent Jack Savage."

"Then we have an understanding," the hare replied as he adjusted his shirt sleeves. "I just came to ask you if you know the current whereabouts of a red fox by the name of Nicholas Wilde, I believe he once did businesses with you?"

"The individual you speak of his not welcome in my household!" Mister Big snapped back in agitation. Then he gave a small smile as he sat back in his chair again. "The fox knows it is certain death to enter into my part of the city." The Godfather of crime looked the agent over again with the beady black eyes from under his bushy back eyebrows, appraising the thin handsome jackrabbit. "We are of course speaking of that two bit hustler named Nick Wilde and not THE famous Nicholas Wilde who died years ago?"

Agent Jack Savage looked back stone-faced and not tried not to show his surprise to the shrew. "That's all I wanted to know," he simply stated as he bowed.

"The two foxes are the same, are they not?" Mister Big suddenly called out. "I always thought that Nicholas Wilde was too lucky in life, always knowing when to capitalize on events which others could not anticipate."

Jack Savage stopped as he looked up at the bears blocking the door and turned to face the shrew again. He bowed once more, without answering, and turned as he began walking toward the door again. He tensed up as he drew closer to the two massive frowning polar bears in his way. Instead of blocking him, one opened the door and gave a low growl as the agent passed by. The hare did not relax until his sedan roared into the tunnel out of Tundratown and back into Savannah Central.

Behind at the mason, Koslov frowned as he looked down at the shrew. "You want us to find and grab Wilde before he does?" he asked.

"No my friend, let's see what happens when Savage finds the fox for us," he answered. "Besides we have troubles enough keeping Tundratown safe from what is happening elsewhere in the city."

The bear nodded as he offered his paw and the shrew stood up and climbed into the it. Gently, the polar bear carried his friend over to the two portraits on the wall and set him down on the shelf under the one of the younger shrew. "She was too young to be taken from us the day before her wedding," the bear softly growled as he watched his friend light a small candle in her memory. "Our contacts say that Savage is investigating the disappearance of the rabbit, Officer Hopps."

"She shouldn't have chased the weasel into Little Rodentia," Mister Big sadly replied as he wiped his eyes. "If she hadn't, then my Fru Fru would still be alive today and not crushed by that giant doughnut!"

Koslov crossed himself as he looked at the portrait. "The rabbit wasn't responsible," the bear finally sighed. "Weaselton was and you got your revenge."

"Any eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a claw for a claw," the shrew intoned the Book of Fates as he too crossed himself. He remembered the badly beaten weasel begging and desperately pleading for his life before he was dropped into the icy pit. "But if our sources are correct and if time travel was discovered by Nicholas Wilde, I want it so I can go back and save my darling daughter!"

* * *

 **1925**

The smell of the tea reminded Judy of her best friend Fru Fru, the little sociable shrew always loved a good cup of tea. The rabbit gave a start as a cheery voice called out, "Well my dears, it's off to work!" A fat warthog entered the room as he buttoned his grimly shirt collar and slipped on a stained tie. "The evening awaits the talents of Doctor Rudy Tucker, the Magnificent!" He gave a little hiccup as he bowed and staggered out the shop's door.

"Still drunk!" the silver maned fox vixen chuckled. "By the gods he is a mess, but he's a harmless enough drunk and does have a talent with the cards."

"So, he's a gambler?" Judy asked as her nose twitched in confusion.

"Heavens no!" Minnie laughed. "He's a street magician, you know cards tricks and the old sleight of hand? Rudy is really good at it, even when he is drunk. Now as for you sweetheart, you don't act like the sweet little innocent farmer's daughter from Podunk that you're trying to convince me you are!"

"I'm from Bunnyburrow," Judy corrected her. "Podunk is in Deerborne County, not the Triburrows."

"Of course," the vixen replied with some traces of disbelief in her voice's tone. She was dusting her stock of bottles and cans that filled the store's shelves.

"You don't seem to be very busy," the rabbit observed.

"It's much too early in the evening," the vixen answered with a small smile. "My customers will be here later tonight and earlier in the morning, seeking remedies for their…ah, overindulgence and hangovers."

"So you are a chemist?" Judy asked as she looked at the different herbs that she saw. "You've got catnip and marijuana?"

"I'm an herbalist and you won't find anything illegal here!" the fox chuckled as she watched the nosy rabbit. Catnip makes the felines and us foxes happy, it also enhances a bunny's libido. I do not deal in any of the drugs regulated by the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act or in opium. Those are the devil's drugs and have destroyed too many good lives, I stick to natural cures."

"Don't you consider any of these as being gateway drugs into the more dangerous drugs?" the rabbit asked in a somewhat cynical tone as she picked a packet of marijuana and looked at it.

"What's a gateway drug?" the vixen asked in a perplexed tone and then she frowned. "You're not a Prohibitionist are you? Look what outlawing drinking has done to this town! It only drove the bar owners out of business or underground, enriching the mobsters! I've known too many innocents destroyed because they got in the way of organized crime, too many good coppers are buried in our town cemeteries and now only the corrupt survive."

Judy looked down at the floor ashamed, because she knew that history would prove the vixen correct. The impact of Prohibition would haunt society for generations to come. In the future, illegal drugs would replace booze after it was finally legalized again during the coming Great Depression. Whatever the vice, the same crime families who grew to power during this era would continue to prosper.

"Look at our streets, our town has become a club for gangsters and the rich, none of them care about the welfare of the locals! They sit around in their fancy clothes and stare at us as if we just live to amuse them with our…our…music and dancing," the vixen snared out in frustration. She stood there with her paws clutched in anger and tears in her eyes. "Our places are overrun by them, they come in demanding to be treated like our rulers, tossing their money around like the ancient lords would toss their scraps to the starving slaves. Oh, we take it as we grovel and say yes sir, that we do, and all the time we are angry with ourselves for doing so. We can't use the same bathrooms, the same groomers, go to the same school…it's so damn unfair."

Judy looked at the vixen and the rabbit was embarrassed because she knew the fox was correct again. She knew that despite the changes to the law, the bigotry would continue and even flourish in the future. Dawn Bellwether and her conspirators were yet to be born and Nick, her dear sweet silly fox, would still face the hatred and speciesism even in the modern world yet to come.

"No, we should stand up to them and yell, I AM YOUR EQUAL!" the vixen continued, with tears of frustration running down her cheeks. "Instead we mutter in the back alleys and dark streets in our despair, because we fear the mob and the law will crush us."

Judy couldn't help herself as she stepped over and hugged the vixen. At first the fox hesitated and then hugged her back. "Perhaps I was wrong," Minnie sighed. "You know how emotional we foxes can get. Come on and let's turn on the radio, it's time for Reverend Piberius to be on.

Judy's ears flicked up when she heard the name Piberius, that was Nick's middle name! "Who's Piberius?" she asked as he watched the vixen walk over to a large richly polished brown wooden box with huge wooden spools on top wrapped with wire.

"I just bought this, it's the latest model tube radio made by a RCZ, the Radio Corporation of Zootopia," the vixen said as she turned on the radio and adjusted the knobs, reducing the static. A voice spoke from among the static and she finally found the right spot for the signal. A strong, charismatic voice was reading from the Gospel of the Lamb, about being your brother's keeper. "Piberius," the vixen muttered in an awed whisper. "He's the voice of us downtrodden and the workers."

Judy cast a glance towards the hallway and at the room where Nick was sleeping off the effects of the drugs. The voice spoke louder and with great passion, drawing her attention back to the radio as if she expected to see the speaker's image. He exalted that there was a need for the workers to unionize and unite with the predatory species in the common cause of true justice of equality. The rabbit's ears drooped as she listened to the mesmerizing voice, because she remembered what Nick had told her earlier about the upcoming riots that were in the not too distant future. She cast a glance at the vixen, who sat before the radio, and wondered what her fate would be. Would Minnie survive the chaos or become just another victim of the anger fueled mob's frenzy of hate?

The rabbit looked at the town outside of the window, this place would be long gone in less than forty years. The mills would shut down, the mansions falling to ruin, the streets overrun with gang violence, drug lords and the hopeless living in what would become a ghetto of despair. Sure, the city would take some minor steps to renovate the community and Mayor Lionheart was a champion of block grants, but the anger and prejudice which Minnie spoke of earlier would survive.

Her ears shot up when her musings were interrupted, not by the preacher's fiery sermon, but by a weak voice calling from down the hallway. She leapt towards the hallway and bolted into the bedroom only to find Nick curled up on the bed. She blinked in surprise when she realized the strange shorts which the black wolf had commented about earlier were the pair of boxer shorts with carrots printed on them that she had bought the fox as a gag gift for his birthday.

"Judy," Nick weakly called out again and she realized that he was still half asleep.

"I'm here Nick," she whispered as she climbed into the bed next to him.

A few minutes later the vixen peered into the room to check on them and saw the fox's head was resting comfortably in the bunny's lap, as Judy rubbed him between his ears. Minnie gave a small smile at the sight, because it gave her some slight hope for the future.


	20. Bright Lights Await

**Chapter 20: Bright Lights Await**

* * *

" **Time catches up with us all."** \- The Bartender in _Predestination._

 **Ricky talks with Miss Judy about his parents and Rubin asks her an important question. Meanwhile, Nick and Judy begin to come to terms about their feelings towards each other.**

* * *

 **1925**

The pair of rabbits both listened with concern as Ricky told them what he had previously said to the two red foxes earlier, about his missing parents and their encounter with the police. As they traveled along roadway towards the lights of the town ahead, the traffic had picked up and their Model TT truck was one of the older vehicles on the road. Sleek roadsters, touring cars, and luxurious limousines, along with the distinctive yellow taxi cabs roared by the puttering truck.

"By the Great Lion!" was all that Rubin could mutter as he heard the kitten's tale. He glanced over at the pretty rabbit doe, who he called Miss Judy, and saw that her jaw as set in anger as she listened to the kitten.

"Ricky, honey…" Miss Judy began in a strained voice. "Do you have any other family in the city?"

"Nope!" the kitten answered. "Just my mommy and daddy, but I do have an Uncle Larry Catmull and Aunt Jenny. Mommy says that they own a farm near Bunnyburrow and raise chickens.

"The Catmull farm?" Miss Judy softly muttered.

The kitten looked out the window and after a few moments, he finally sighed and asked in a bored tone, "Can I go sit in back with the guys now, Zach promised to teach me a song called the Turkey in the Straw and Ezekiel said he'd tell me a story about a fox named Robin Hood."

Rubin stopped the truck to let Ricky out and after Ezekiel helped the young bobcat climb into the back and get settled, he pulled the truck back out onto the road. "Miss Judy, do you know his family?" the buck muttered as he glanced over at her.

The doe nodded, "I know his family and they live at the other end of the county. There was, or is going to be, a Bobby Catmull in my class at school. That guy has some real musical talent for a chicken farmer."

Rubin watched her from the corner of his eye as he drove down the road. "We're not sure his parents are dead are we?" the buck finally stated. "Maybe they are still alive and in jail or something?"

"Are you always such an optimist?" Miss Judy grimly asked. "You know as well as I do, that's unlikely. We're talking about the gangster Al Catpone, one of the most notorious mobsters in history."

"I'll take your word about that," Rubin replied as he put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer. "I've never heard of the guy. Look, we'll send a telegram to Ricky's uncle when we get to town. This book that his father took, it must have been very important?"

"I'm pretty sure that I know what it is," she sighed as she wiped a tear from her eyes. Her ears flicked as the sound of the foxes and the kitten now singing and laughing in the back of the truck could be heard. "It's the ledger book that will open a federal investigation into Al Catpone's tax evasion and his eventual arrest and imprisonment."

The sound of the foxes and kitten singing filled the air:

 _"Well, I had an old hen and she had a wooden leg_  
 _Just the best old hen that ever laid an egg_  
 _Well, she laid more eggs than any hen on the farm_  
 _But another little drink wouldn't do her any harm."_

"It's that important?" the buck sighed. "Is it even more important than you finding this Nick?"

"I've got to find Nick!" she answered with almost a primal growl. "No, first we find Nick and then we get the book!"

 _"Turkey in the hay, in the hay, hay, hay_  
 _Turkey in the straw, in the straw, straw, straw_  
 _Pick 'em up, shake 'em up, any way at all_  
 _And hit up a tune called Turkey in the straw."_

"You wouldn't just settle on forgetting this whole thing and just become a farmer's wife?" Rubin asked in a hopeful tone.

Miss Judy twisted to face him in suprise and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, causing him to swerve the truck slightly. "Are you asking me to marry you?" she meekly inquired.

"I was kinda hoping that you might want to, especially after what we did in the bathtub," he answered with a grin. "I know that I can't offer you a life as exciting as the one you were living in the future…" He slammed on the brakes as she leaned over and kissed him.

"Whoa! Watch yer driving Thumper!" Zachariah called out as he gripped the truck's side. "Ya about dumped us into that thar ditch!"

"Are they kissing again?" Ricky asked in a confused voice as he stood up from where he had been thrown and wiped himself off before he sat back down next to the fox.

"Ah, reckon they are," Ezekiel answered with a snicker. "Ah, reckon they are!"

A fancy roadster honked as it zoomed by and the kudu at the wheel shook his hoof at them as he called out something obscene.

* * *

"I think we are lost," Nick softly said as he slightly rolled onto his back, so that he could look up at the bunny in whose lap his head was laying upon. "Lost in time and I have no real idea what we can do to fix this."

Judy's paw ran down from his ears to softly caress his muzzle. "Well if I'm going to be lost in time, I couldn't think of anyone better I would like to have with me than you Nick," she replied with false bravado. "Are you feeling better?"

"No more bad dreams!" he chucked and then he tensed up as he look again into her amethyst eyes, those deep purple pools which haunted him in the dreams he did have. "Carrots…Judy…do you love me?" he blurted out.

Judy's eyes widened when she heard him ask this. He had said the same thing before, but usually in a somewhat humorous manner. "Of course I love you Slick!" she softly tried to reply with a fake chuckle, but her laughter died in her throat as he saw something desperate in his green eyes.

"No," Nick continued. "Do you really love me?" He pushed himself upright and turned to face her on all fours. Her eyes widened as she saw his reddish orange fur in the lamp's weak flickering light, he was only dressed in that ridiculous pair of carrot print undershorts that she had given him for his birthday. His body was slender, yet muscular, and she knew that her friend was very much an attractive male for a fox. He still looked desperate as he awaited her answer and she didn't answer, but instead leaned forward and kissed him on his lips. He slightly growled as he pulled himself closer and then on top of her, as their kiss became more passionate and almost primal.

"No…" she groaned out in protest as she pushed against his chest. "Not here, we…we can't! You're a fox and I'm a rabbit, this isn't supposed to happen!"

Nick sat back and discreetly pulled a pillow to cover his lap as he slightly panted out, "Yeah, aren't we foxes and rabbits supposed to be traditional enemies? But then again, we have already screwed up that old stereotype already. A fox and bunny as partners on the police force, who'd believe that?"

"Nick, we've both been under a lot of stress and…and…" Judy began as she pulled at her blushing right ear in trepidation. "We're lost in a strange place and…and…" She didn't finish before she suddenly launched herself sobbing into his arms.

"Yeah, I know," Nick sighed as he stroked her head while she cried. "I know…"

"No, you don't!" she sniffled. "I'm a rabbit in love with a fox!"

He put a paw under her chin and lifted it up so he could see her tear filled eyes "Yeah I do," he slightly chuckled as he wiped some of the tears with his paw. "I'm a fox in love with a rabbit. But I think we need to work on this after we figure out how to get home."

"So we need to find the owner of this watch," she said with a determined voice as she reluctantly pushed herself from his grip. "This watch must want something from us, otherwise why else would it send us back in time?"

"Sounds like a plan," Nick agreed. "So what are you thinking?"

"Not much, because I'm staring at an almost naked fox in front of me who is trying to hide a problem under a much too small pillow," the rabbit giggled. "I think you should get dressed and then let's see if we can hopefully find a not dead male cheetah named Tom."

Nick shook his head and smiled as he turned around to pull on his pants. "So where do we start, there is no internet to do a search?"

"They have telephones right? So I would think that there has to be a phone book or directory of some kind," Judy answered, she slightly blushed as she watched him adjust his pants so his tail was free and as he it gave a slight wag.

"A phone book, sure why not?" the fox snickered as he pulled his shirt over his shoulders and then hesitated as began to button it. "You think that they have phone booths like in the old Super Wolf movies?"

"How would I know?" Judy scoffed. "Now come on and let's see if we can find in a phone book, there can't be that many mammals who own telephones around here…can there?"

Minnie looked at the fox and the rabbit as if they were crazy, "You want to find a cheetah named Tom? Do you know how many telephones there are in this town, not to mention the city? There are thousands and you don't even know the last name?" She tossed a huge thick telephone book on the table, which was just for Happy Town. "That's just assuming that he even owns a phone, this town is full of nickel in the slot pay phones, you can find them everywhere!"

Judy's ears drooped as she looked at the vixen and then the book. "Hey fluff, didn't Benny say his great…ah, that he knew a Tom Clawhauser? Maybe we should start there?"

The vixen was half listening as she was making an herbal concoction of some type for a fat ground hog in a rumpled blue suit, who was complaining of a stomach ache. "Tommy Clawhauser?" she called out to the fox. "Everyone knows Tommy, he's a local flatfoot. You know he's a private detective."

The ground hog turned around to face them as he was fumbling for some cash to pay the vixen, "I used Clawhauser once to find out if my first wife was cheating on me, the little tramp! He's always getting into trouble with one of the gangsters and I'm surprised that he hasn't already taken a one way swim in the river. I saw him earlier tonight hanging around outside of the Cottonmouth Club or you might find him across the road at Lucky Lindy's Dance Hall."

Minnie looked down at her customer as she handed him the package. "Take this with a shot of seltzer and stay near the john, because when this works you need to get to the crapper fast!" she warned the rodent. The she looked up at Nick and Judy. "Watch yourself around Lucky Lindy's because it's one of Catpone's places."

"We will," Judy replied with a nod.

"Oh and when you get done, don't forget you've already paid me for the bed tonight and I won't even charge extra if you want to share it, just don't mess up the sheets!" the vixen snickered. "Now go on, the evening's young and watch your tails!"

Judy looked back at Minnie as they were leaving the shop and her ears blushed when she saw the grin on the vixen's muzzle.

"A bunny and a fox?" she heard the ground hog exclaim, before the door closed behind them and then she looked in amazement at the traffic on the streets before her and the bright lights on the signs hanging from the buildings along the town's main street. Jazz music could be heard over the babble of voices. Well-dressed mammals in fine suits, tuxedos and evening dresses were excitedly walking around the sidewalks.

"I guess this is what they used to call putting of the Ritz?" Nick muttered in astonishment at the transformation that night had brought to the town. "This sure doesn't look anything like the neighborhood I grew up in, at least the way it'll look like in the future!"

"So all we have to do is find a male cheetah somewhere in all of this?" Judy sighed and grabbed the fox's paw as she pulled him towards the twinkling lights and music. "Let's get started Slick!"

* * *

 **The website Zootopia Wiki has an article about Bobby Catmull and that Byron Howard said that the character was originally supposed to have been a bobcat. I have chosen to follow this direction in this story.**

 **The song, _Turkey in the Straw_ is an old ****folk song and the tune is based on an even older Irish ballad. The song was popular with the traveling** **minstrel shows. It was also the base melody used in the famous Mickey Mouse cartoon called _Steamboat Willie._ In the cartoon, a** **goat eats some sheet music for the song and Mickey, along with Minnie, use the goat's body like a phonograph, with music playing as they turn it's tail like a crank. There are several versions of the song lyrics, some not so nice.**


	21. Questions

**Chapter 21: Questions**

* * *

 ** _"Your future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one." **–**_** _Doc Brown in Back to the Future._

 **Jack finds his present day Nick Wilde in a very odd predicament, as Miss Judy searches for the time traveling Nick in Happy Town.  
**

* * *

 **Present Day**

The thin jackrabbit frowned as he heard a small cracking noise and then he turned in his chair to stare in amusement at the hotel suite's other occupant, a cat who was dressed in a matching black suit. The other agent was sprawled out on the hotel sofa as he chewed on a pistachio nut. "That's a bad habit Minos," Jack Savage teased, but the cat just grinned as he tossed him a nut from the bowl in his lap.

"What can I say? It was my favorite food growing up on the islands." the lanky Aegean cat named Topal Minos answered with a shrug. "At least I'm not addicted to olives or anchovies."

"So Penny found nothing more about Hopps then we already know?" Jack sighed as he cracked the nut and slowly munched on it as he reviewed his notes, the other agent nodded. Then with a mischievous grin, the hare looked back up at the cat and added, "As for the olives, I'll stick with them only in my martinis and leave the anchovies all for you my feline friend."

"Herbivores!" the cat chuckled. "You don't know what you're missing." His phone beeped and he looked down at the message. "Found him boss!"

"They found Wilde?" Jack asked as he sat up and looked at the grinning cat. "Do they have him detained?"

"Yeah…well not exactly," the cat replied as he now frowned at the message. "He's in a hospital, seems he was caught by an angry mob."

"He got caught in a riot?" the hare asked as he stood up and reached for his jacket.

"The police report says the fox pulled a hustle on the wrong guys and it went south," Minos answered as he cracked yet another nut. "From the photos, they worked him over pretty good too." Jack took the phone from the cat's paw so he could look at the photos. The fox was thin and wrapped in bandages. "They must have broken his leg, his right leg is in a cast."

With a heavy sigh, the hare handed the phone back to Minos, "This is probably going to just be another dead end, but I'll go interview him anyways. I'll need to borrow your car."

The cat threw the hare an aggravated glance as he started digging in his pockets, trying to find his car keys. Finally finding them, he tossed the keys over to Jack. "There you go," Minos grumbled as he snatched up another nut from the bowl. "Q Branch wasn't happy with you about all the bullet marks and dents on your car, so please be careful with mine! I don't want to see even a scratch on the paint job. Oh and you do know what happens if you press the lock button three times, right?"

"It's my old DB 9, right?" the thin hare asked as he pocketed the keys.

"No, I drive the silver DB 8. The bad guys blew up the black DB 9 in Katfu, remember?" Minos sighed as he playfully threw another nut at his boss. "I'd call you a taxi instead, but the last time you took one of those, you almost got yourself and my cousin Vavra killed on your mission along the Caspian Coast."

"Details," Jack chuckled as he reached for the doorknob. "He did live at least for a few more years."

"I told him not to marry again," Minos dramatically sighed. "His third wife was the jealous kind."

"He had four wives at the same time, it was no wonder he didn't croak from exhaustion instead?" the hare scoffed. "Why haven't you married?"

"Alas my dear Jack, you know that we are not the marrying kind," the cat mumbled as he chewed another pistachio. "Of us all, you should know that."

Jack didn't answer as his ears drooped and his paw briefly touched his chest pocket where he still kept her handkerchief, the small white cloth was embroidered with an "S". He had married once, but she was gunned down by his enemies as they drove away from their wedding, it was the last time he ever dared love anyone. Turning, he sighed deeply as he walked out the door and into the hallway.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking…" he heard his assistant call out from inside the room. The grey, black, but mostly white furred cat had been with him since they were partnered together during the Rattolli Raid and was one of the few cats he knew that was a certified scuba diver. Minos was several years older and had been a successful smuggler before he joined the agency.

It took Jack less than fifteen minutes to drive from the downtown hotel, where his department had set up their command post, to the hospital since the streets were empty, except for military and police vehicles.

Two anxious acting cops were standing front of the hospital room door when he arrived. "What's the matter?" the agent snapped as he pushed his way past the guards and into the room. "Where's the fox?"

"We lost him sir," the brown bear in the dark blue ZPD police uniform stuttered out in a nervous voice. "He was there and then he was gone, he just disappeared!"

Jack's nose twitched as he looked around, he remembered that the raccoon had said the same thing about Judy Hopps and how she just vanished. "You lost a prisoner with a broken leg?" he angrily snapped at the two cops. "Just how the hell can anyone do that?"

"I left the room to get him some ice for just a moment," the bear's partner replied with a snort. "I came back and he was gone."

The rabbit looked the room over again and it seemed that the only way out was the door. _Maybe the fox time traveled too?_ He thought as he examined the room yet again and then he saw the dust on the counter top. He ran his paw through the dust and then he looked up at the ceiling, the heater grate overhead was slightly ajar. "He didn't disappear, he's in the duct work!" he called out to the police officers. "Lift me up!"

The bear boosted the hare onto his shoulder, allowing Jack to pull off the grate and climb up only to see the reddish orange furred naked rear end and tail of a red fox, the prisoner's hospital gown was torn. "Mister Wilde, it seems you are stuck in a most unflattering and uncomfortable position!" he called out, not trying to laugh at the fox's predicament. "Let me get you some assistance."

"Just ask them to turn down the heat!" the fox sarcastically panted out. "I'm slowly baking up here!"

* * *

 **1925**

Rubin found a parking spot along a backstreet near the town's busy center. "I've never seen anything like this!" the buck exclaimed as he stared wide eyed at the flashing lights and busy streets of Happy Town.

"I haven't either, at least not here!" Miss Judy replied as she too looked around. "This place is a real dump in the future."

"So how are we going to find this fox of yours in all of this?" the buck asked in an almost hopeless tone.

"We start asking questions at his last know location," the doe replied as she subconsciously wiped down the wrinkles on her flowery dress as she looked enviously at all the other fashionably dressed females passing by in their elegant evening gowns. "We start at the tram station and work from there!"

Both of the foxes and the bobcat kitten were standing in the truck's rear bed just staring in anticipation at all the exciting actively swirling around them. The smells of cooking, the glittering lights and the sound of jazz music almost overwhelmed them. A pair of white-tailed deer in fashionable black tuxedos looked at them before one of the bucks lifted his muzzle as if he had smelled something bad and poked his companion. "Look at the hicks from the sticks!" he laughed as he shook his rack of antlers, before they continued their way down the sidewalk.

"What's wrong with the way we look?" Rick asked. "I think you two are dressed really nice."

"Ah reckon, thar's some folks in this world who only up and feel important if'n they pick on others," Ezekial frowned as he watched the two wealthy deer strutting away as if they owned the world. "Snottiest pair of antlers I dun ever saw and those soft hoofs of thars wouldn't last even an hour doin' real work. Ah wouldn't trade a country minute for either one of them."

"Explains why thar alone, what doe would want ta be sparkin one of those two?" Zachariah growled.

"Come on guys," Rubin called up to the three predators in the truck. "We're heading towards the tracks to find the tram station, you three stick close and don't get lost."

"We ain't never got lost afore!" Zachariah replied.

"You got lost at the fair," Rubin answered in a sarcastic tone. "Either that or you purposely dumped me for booze and half naked vixens."

"Oh yeah, we dun up and got lost!" Ezekiel quickly interjected while trying not to snicker. "Ya'll wouldn't think we'd up and leave you fer some purdy faces."

"I don't think it was the vixen's faces you two were looking at," Miss Judy added as she took the buck's paw and began pulling him down the street.

"I don't understand?" Ricky quickly asked. "Why'd you dump Rubin?"

"Again, yer too young," Ezekiel answered. Zachariah could swear that the other fox's ears were blushing.

"They sure do look sweet together, don't they?" Zachariah quickly said, trying to change the subject. The two foxes and the bobcat kitten followed the two rabbits down the busy sidewalk towards the train station.

It took them only a few moments to realize that the tram didn't stop at that station and began following the smaller set of rails towards an unlit weathered, rundown wooden platform. "Reckon that folks pay aboard the tram?" Ezekiel said as he scratched his ear. "Ain't no building around here nowhere."

"Maybe there is someone in that small shop across the road who saw something?" Judy suggested as she led the others down the platform and onto the street. The small shop was the only business still open at this time of night on the whole block.

Tentatively the rabbit pushed the door open and peeked inside, a silver maned fox vixen looked up at her briefly and then stopped what she was doing. After looking at her again and sniffing the air, she asked in surprise, "How may I help you?"

"I was looking for a friend of mine who came on the tram earlier today, a red fox. He might be traveling with a female rabbit, have you seen anyone like that this afternoon?" Judy asked as she entered the room.

"You mean a fox with a rabbit, who looks exactly and almost smells just like you?" the vixen replied as she continued looking at her in that strange manner. "If I didn't know better, I could swear you were her?"

Rubin had followed her into the store and stood there with his paw on her shoulder.

* * *

 **The character of Minos is based on the pistachio munching James Bond ally Milos Columbo from the movie _For Your Eyes Only_ _._  
**


	22. Nick & Nick

**Chapter 22: Nick & Nick **

* * *

_****"That's the thing about time travel you're always moving forward, even when you go back."****_ \- _James A. Owen_

 **Agent Jack Savage interviews his timeline's Nick Wilde. Meanwhile in the past, Nick and Judy start their search for Tom Clawhauser.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

The chair scrapped across the hospital room's white vinyl floor as the thin hare in a black suit pulled it closer to the bed where the pouting red fox was now laying down. "So Mister Wilde, why were you trying to flee from custody?" Jack asked as he pulled out a file on the prisoner.

"I'm not running from the cops!" the fox scoffed as he pulled at the stiff light blue hospital gown. It had taken two orderlies and a cop to get the stuck fox out of the duct work. His old ripped gown had torn completely off when they pulled him free, much to the amusement of the half dozen female nurses who had come to watch. "Have you ever eaten the food they serve in this place? I was sneaking out to get myself something edible and tried to take a short cut." As if to prove his point, he reached over to a tray of mostly uneaten food and flicked at a bowl of blue colored jello, making it jiggle.

"Sure fox!" the police officer at the door grunted. "You want to try again? Maybe come up with a more believable story this time?"

The fox named Nick Wilde gave the large uniformed zebra a very foxlike smirk. "Okay…Okay…the truth is that I was ducking out on the hospital bill. I can't afford what they want me to pay, even with the government healthcare subsidy. I mean who charges eighty five bucks for an aspirin? You want to arrest someone, arrest them for highway robbery!"

"Come on fox, your leg…" the zebra began again, before the hare jumped out of the seat and slammed the door closed in front of his muzzle.

"Enough of his distractions, you know I'm not here to talk about your culinary or financial problems!" Jack snapped as he climbed up and sat down in the chair again.

"Then why are you here?" the fox asked as he sat up and looked at the smaller agent with curiosity.

Jack looked over at the fox and for a moment, it must have been the way the tod's head was slightly cocked, he was briefly reminded of his late wife and he inadvertently reached his paw towards the handkerchief he had tucked in his top pocket. He tried not to frown, when he realized what he was doing. "Look Wilde, do you know a police officer named Judy Hopps?" he asked in a flat professional tone. "The ZPD's first and only rabbit."

"Look Agent…" Nick began.

"Savage," the hare answered.

"Agent Savage," the fox continued, trying not to laugh because he was looking at a jackrabbit who claimed that his last name was Savage of all things. "Look, I have no idea who this police officer is and why would you even think that I would know her. Mammals like me try to keep a low profile and avoid the police, trust me that asshole of a zebra outside the door is a sweetheart compared to some of the officers on the force. I can't tell you how many times I've been shook down by a dirty cop…"

"Yes or no!" Jack snapped with some anger in his voice. "Just answer my question."

"NO!" the fox growled as he lay back against the pillows. "I don't know any cops, I don't know any rabbits, and I certainly don't know who you are asking about."

"Do you have a pocket watch?" the hare just asked as he looked down at the fox's file.

"Nope, I don't even have a wrist watch anymore or a cell phone," the fox sighed as he put his paws behind is head. "I've pawned just about everything I once owned or I could get my paws onto, you know how tight things can get?"

"Sure, have you or your family ever been in contact with Nicholas Wilde?" the agent asked as he turned a page over in the file.

"I'm Nicholas Wilde," the fox barked out a laugh. "Are you reading the right file?"

"You know which Nicholas Wilde I'm referring to," Savage continued, using the same droning professional tone. "Have you or any members of your family ever been in contact with either him, his lawyers, anyone at FoxCon, or Fennick Fennecson?"

"Nope! As far as I know, I'm not related. He certainly didn't leave me any of his fortune," The fox laughed out, as he reached for the television remote control.

"Why did your parents name you after him? Even your middle name is Piberius." Jack suddenly asked as he looked up at the smirking fox. He was about ready to punch that condescending smirk off of Wilde's muzzle. Instead, he brought his leg up and kicked the remote from the fox's paw.

"Hell half of this city's foxes are named after Piberius, he was a one of the greatest foxes in history!" Nick scoffed as he waved a dismissive paw in the air. He looked over at where the remote had landed and frowned when he saw it was broken. "You did that, I'm not paying to replace that!"

The hare looked at the smug smirk the fox was now giving him. "So I meet with Mister Big before I came here to see you," the agent began and he gave a thin smile as the fox's smug look quickly evaporated. "It seems you are in a lot of trouble with your former employer."

"I never worked for him," Nick snapped as he squirming in the bed. "It was all a misunderstanding."

"I don't think I would call selling him a rug made from the butt of a skunk a misunderstanding," the hare replied as he opened the file folder again. "I would call it a stupid scam, one of many you that have done over the years. For a fox working the streets, you really aren't that smart are you?"

"I have never been arrested!" Nick angrily snarled.

"I see that you have been detained for questioning several times, but never charged with a crime," Jack confirmed. "My goodness, you were even picked up for prostitution?"

"I never was a hooker!" the fox snapped as he grabbed at the file folder, only to miss when the agent pulled it away before he could reach it. "That's not true!"

"Oh sorry, you were questioned for buying and not selling," Jack snickered as he tossed a copy of the arrest record at the fox. "So you have been arrested, just nothing has been brought to court as of yet."

The red fox in the new hospital gown didn't reply and only cast him a nasty look.

About an hour latter Jack sat in the silver colored sports sedan and called his partner, "Did you find anything at his residence?"

"His address is an empty warehouse down by the river," Minos replied over the phone. "We found his stuff hidden under a bridge not too far away, the poor guy is homeless. We didn't find much, no pocket watch for sure. I had some of the military engineers run metal detectors around the nearby ground, but nothing of interest was found."

"I'm not surprised," the hare grunted as he started the car and pulled out into the parking lot. "This was just another dead end."

As the DB 8 pulled out of the parking lot, several pairs of eyes watched it leave.

* * *

 **1925**

"You can go in," the large bull in the tuxedo said as he pointed at Judy. "But you fox, your kind isn't allowed in this place." They stood in front of the Cottonmouth Club, it was a plain looking building and Nick grunted as a couple of rams in tuxedo's pushed past him and through the door.

"What do you mean? This place is full of foxes and cats!" Nick objected as he stepped up to the bouncer again. He could see inside the door at the plush interior, which was made to look an exotic jungle. The sign overhead was surrounded by yellow and red light bulbs and featured a coiled snake, a cottonmouth water moccasin, with its fangs bared as if to strike. Inside, there was a band on the stage playing jazz and tables of well dressed diners watched the show as they feasted.

"They all work here BOY!" the bull snapped as he crossed his muscular arms and stared down at the fox. "Singers, dancers, servers, and such, but this is a prey only establishment. If you want a pred and prey place, then you need to go across the street."

Judy shook her head and forced a smile as she looked up at the bouncer and asked, "Did you see a cheetah named Clawhauser around here?"

"Clawhauser!" the bull laughed. "That troublemaking dick couldn't get in there either, he's a cat!"

"So you haven't seen him at all?" the rabbit continued. "I'm trying to find him, he owes me money."

"Figures," the bull laughed. "He was hanging around here earlier, bugging some of the staff with questions and then went across the street."

"Thanks!" Judy gave him a forced smile as she grabbed Nick's paw and pulled him away from the door.

"So we are good enough to entertain them, serve them, cook for them, and clean up after them?" Nick angrily snapped as he looked back at the club's entrance. "Almost all the most famous jazz acts got their start in that club, but we aren't good enough to walk through the front door!"

Judy shook her head, for Nick this was a nightmare of injustice. Sure, her partner had faced such speciesism before and she remembered how dismissive of Nick that Chief Bogo had acted that night long ago on the platform in the Rainforest District. "You expect me to believe a fox!" the large cape buffalo scoffed. This was the attitude he faced almost every day even since he first donned the uniform. Time after time someone would call the station reporting that a fox was dressed like a police officer and wanting him arrested, the city's district attorney complained at first that he could not be creditable in court, and even some judges dismissed him off paw when he was on the witness stand. Despite all of this, Nick kept his sense of humor and acted as if he just brushed it off, but Judy knew better. She understood how it was to be marginalized for her species, she was still considered too small to be part of the more dangerous tasks, but she didn't face the sheer bigotry that the fox experienced.

She was jolted from her thoughts when Nick suddenly leaned over and said something to her, she looked up in surprise. He squeezed her paw again, before releasing it and smiled. "I said we're drawing attention Fluff," he chuckled. "I don't think these folks approve of a rabbit and fox holding paws."

Nick smiled at the protective look that Judy was giving the others, almost like she was ready to challenge all of them to a fight.

"Come on Nick, let's go see if Clawhauser is in Lucky Lindy's Dance Hall across the street." she angrily said as she grabbed and pulled him by his paw towards the busy street.

Nick chuckled as they wove their way through the traffic. A flashy red roadster car honked and he briefly looked over at the fat ram behind its wheel. "All this gangster stuff must be rubbing off on you Fluff," he laughed when they finally made their way to the other side. "I never thought I'd see the day that Judy Laverne Hopps, Zootopia's own Super Cop, just jaywalked!"

"Hey this is the Roaring Twenties," the rabbit said with a grin as she turned to face the fox, still holding his paw. "Who knows Slick, all this vice and illegal booze might be bringing the bad bunny out of me!" She released his paw as she gave a skip and then a slight hop, while she made her way towards the dance hall. Nick stopped in surprise and slightly blushed when he realized she had just shaken her fluffy tail at him.

* * *

 **Harlem's famous Cotton Club was the launching point for many of the great Jazz Age entertainers, but it was also segregated and was decorated to** **perpetuate** **the racist imagery of the era. Still such greats such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and a young Lena Horne all were regular acts at the club.**

 **A note for those concerned about Nick's jello, it's vegan since gelatin is made from animal collagen. So just a reminder, the popular dessert Jell-O is not vegetarian or vegan.**


	23. Problems with Gangsters

**Chapter 23: Problems with Gangsters**

* * *

" **Actually, it seems that while trying to set the alarm on my clock radio, I may have ripped a hole in the time-space continuum."** – Ajax in _Duckman_ , The Once and Future Duck episode 34.

 **Judy reluctantly accepts a gangster's invitation to a party. Jack confronts Mister Big again and disappoints Minos.**

* * *

 **1925**

Lucky Lindy's Dance Hall was not nearly as luxurious and refined as the Cottonmouth Club across the busy street. Sure, there were white linen which covered the tables and the booths that hugged the walls and were in the balcony overhead, but the center of the building was a large paw worn wooden floor filled with a whole gamut of dancing mammals from all the social classes and species, dressed in all types of evening wear. Just like everywhere else along the town's main street, Prohibition was ignored and illegal booze flowed freely. Four large cut glass chandlers hung from the ceiling and the walls were painted a rich dark shade of red, which gave the place somewhat of an elegant appearance. Unknown to most of the patrons, it was also a color that was easy to clean off if there were any blood splatters. Lucky Lindy's was after all, a mob owned business.

Sitting in a corner booth, an ocelot in a custom cut black tuxedo frowned as he silently observed the crowd from his table. The place was jammed full of customers, a wide mixture of predators and prey, but he was still not happy. The cat watched with mild interest as one of his so called taxi-dancers, an attractive grey furred vixen in a tight deeply slit dark blue dress which barely covered her tail, approached a table full of moderately dressed male beavers. His girls would offer to dance with a single male for a small fee, usually at "a dime a throw" as they called it. For a much, much larger fee, she might even offer to "privately dance" with him in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Jazz music blared from one of the stages and as soon as one band's song ended, another band from across the room would pick up the beat.

"So where are we going to get a cottontail around these parts?" he finally broke the silence as he grumbled out the question to his companion. "H-Town ain't the Burrows."

"You know the boss likes to have bunnies at his shindigs," the scarred faced lion in a white tuxedo jacket scoffed as he rattled the ice in his drink and watched the other gangster take a puff from his cigar. "I wish the Cottontail Club hadn't shut down, they had plenty of cheap bunny broads."

A thin tiger in a black tuxedo slipped into a chair next to the ocelot. "Sheesh Bugsy, some dame came looking for Clawhauser," he growled to the other cat as he pointed towards a grey furred rabbit and a red fox who had just entered the room. "She claims that he owes her money or sumtin."

"She ain't ever gonna get paid," the lion nicknamed named Lucky chuckled as he sat his glass down and fumbled in his jacket for his pack of cigarettes. "Clawhauser is soon gonna be a goner."

"You idiots!" Bugsey exclaimed. "She's a rabbit dame, just what we are looking for and a pretty one at that!"

"You think the dress will fit her?" Lucky asked as he looked at the rabbit with a bored expression.

"Boss likes the dresses tight on his hoppers," the other cat chuckled as he stood up and began walking toward the rabbit and fox. "Come on, she has a party to attend."

"Won't someone miss her, I don't think we should stir up folks if she says no," the tiger nervously called out.

Bugsy gave a predatory grin before he answered his associate's question, "This is H-Town and we own the cops, courts and politicians. Everyone who is important around here knows not to mess with the boss."

"We own everyone but that damn preacher," the lion grunted as he ground out his cigarette and stood up. "Piberius is such a pain in the tail, I wonder why the boss puts up with him?"

"Look she's with a fox and ain't no fox gonna come to the rescue of a bunny," the Ocelot laughed as he turned to face the lion. He took a long drag of his cigar and waved it slightly in the air with his paw. "She's a pred chaser, so her moral standards can't be too high."

Bugsy swaggered toward Nick and Judy as he gave them a toothy smile. Lucky had joined him and so too had the thin tiger. Nick tensed up as he watched the three sinister cats approaching. "Looks like trouble Carrots," he whispered to Judy.

"So baby, I heard you've been asking about good old Tommy Clawhauser?" the gangster called out as he joined them. "Come on, lets dump the fox and I'll take you to him."

"Where is he, come on everyone knows you cats all stick together?" Nick called out in his slick hustler voice as he stepped protectively in front of Judy. After years of living on the streets, he knew trouble when it showed up and these three cats were as dangerous as any mammal he had ever met on either side of the law. "We just wanted to return his missing ball of string."

"I wasn't talking to you BOY!" Bugsy replied as he gave him an amused look. "I was talking to the lady and not to her flea bitten pet pelt. Besides, you look like you can barely stand up by yourself."

Nick gave a slight snarl as he stepped forward. "She's not going anywhere without me!"

Faster than the fox could react, the lion reached under his jacket and draw a pistol from its holster, he shoved it under Nick's muzzle. "Yeah she is," the gangster in the white tuxedo jacket growled in a low tone. "Unless she wants to see your brains get splattered all over the wall behind you." He looked over at Judy and gave her a deadly grin. "I really don't want to shoot your friend, blood is so hard to get out of a white jacket. Then there's also the hassle of having to cleanup and payoff the cops again."

"Save us all that work sweetheart and just tell your friend to back off," Bugsy interjected as he grabbed the rabbit doe's arm. "Come on baby, we'll take you to Clawhauser just like you want. He's at a party that we are going to and we'd like you to come along. You'll have a good time and I promise you won't get hurt, as long as you do what you're told."

"NO!" the fox snarled, but he didn't move as he felt the lion jamb the gun even harder into this chin.

"Nick, stop!" Judy called out as she put her paw on his arm. "Don't, they'll kill you. I can handle myself."

"No Judy, not with these guys!" the fox desperately answered as he glared at the lion who held him at bay. "These guys are worse than Big, because they have no moral compass."

"Enough!" the lion roared as he shoved the fox against the wall and pushed the pistol against the fox's head. "You talk too much."

"Nick!" Judy screamed as she tried to break the bigger cat's grip.

The lion looked down at the rabbit and then grabbed the fox by his neck, before shoving him into the thin tiger's paws, "I said ENOUGH!"

The tiger painfully gripped Nick's paws behind his back as they followed the other two gangsters through a doorway and down a hall towards the building's rear. There was a black touring car parked in the alleyway and the lion shoved the rabbit into the backseat.

"What do you want me to do with this moke?" the tiger asked as he looked over at the ocelot.

"He's a fox, he's trash!" Bugsy laughed. "Just toss him in the garbage."

The tiger shrugged as he pushed the struggling fox, sending Nick sprawling into a row of trash cans, before he climbed into the driver's seat and started the car. He stepped on the car's gas and sped down of the alleyway just as Nick began to stand up. The fox had to dive out of the way of the approaching car, which just missed him as he fell once again into the tumbled over trash cans.

Judy struggled in vain as she was wedged between the two gangsters. "Look toots, your little pal his just fine. But if you don't do what you're told tonight, I'll have the guys go back and finish him off…capish?" Bugsy growled.

Judy just threw an angry glance at the ocelot, but she knew that the gangster would do what he threatened to Nick and so she nodded with resignation.

* * *

 **Present Day**

Jack Savage pulled the silver grey sports sedan into the hotel's parking lot, just as his phone rang. "What now?" he answered.

"The fox is gone!" Minos' voice came over the car's speaker.

"Are you telling me that those idiot cops lost a fox with a broken leg again?" the hare exclaimed in surprise. "Well it doesn't matter, Wilde didn't know anything and so he's not our problem anymore."

"They didn't lose him boss," the cat answered. "He was taken by three large polar bears in black suits. They took down the cop who was guarding his room."

"They were Big's guys," Savage sighed. "That fox is as good as dead."

"Should we rescue him?" Minos asked. "The cops put out an APB on the fox and the bears already."

The jackrabbit in the black suit glumly looked out the car's window at the city's skyline. Zootopia had been once called the city of hope and change. Despite all of the attempts to make it a modern utopia, a city that was too busy to hate, it was still made up of individual animals and tainted with all their flaws and prejudices. Tolerance lived next door to intolerance, hope thrived next to despair, and love…ah love… it survived in the shadow of hate. "He really doesn't have any relevance to my investigation anymore," the hare finally replied as he looked down at the steering wheel. "Then again I led them to him and I would just hate to let them kill him over nothing." He pressed a button on the console and a screen appeared which showed a beeping red dot. "I know where he is at. I put a tracker in his tail fur when he was stuck in the vent."

"Wait, what was he doing stuck in a vent?" the cat asked in a curious tone.

"I'll tell you the whole story later, but for now please have a backup team met me at the offices of the Tundratown Refrigerated Luxury Limo Service over on East Hailstone Street," the hare replied as he pulled the car out on the street and roared towards the huge wall.

About half an hour later, he pulled up next to a large armored truck and hopped out to face a huge rhino in tactical armor. "There are five of them inside the service garage, three polar bears, a black furred jaguar, and some kind of small rodent. Of course, there is also your fox. We also have a snow leopard on the upper left side of the roof, I think he's keeping lookout."

"What are the tactical team's chances of a unit getting in there and still saving the fox?" Savage asked as he looked at the screen inside the truck and at the infrared signatures that a drone circling overhead had picked up.

"My guys are not trained in arctic combat," the rhino shrugged. "I've mostly have Savannah mammals in the unit and we are freezing our tails off. Using standard tactics, your chances are good if we can maneuver close enough and not get seen. The audio we are getting from the advanced team doesn't sound like we've got too much more time, before they severely hurt or kill the fox."

"Then we need a distraction," the agent sighed as he walked back towards the car. "That's my specialty." He revved the car up and pulled out onto the street, honking when he got to the mesh wire gate. In front of him was a parking lot with several white luxury limousines and a few sedans, snow covered the asphalt and the steel frame garage building beyond.

"We're closed!" one of the bears yelled as he looked out of the building's door. But Jack's continued honking drew him and another bear out into the parking lot and ambling towards the gate. "I said we are closed."

"Tell Mister Big, that it's Jack Savage again and he's got something of mine," the hare yelled out of the window. "He and I need to talk about the fox!" The bear hesitated before he got on his cell phone and after he made a call to someone, he walked over and unlocked the gate.

Jack pulled the sedan up to one of the garage bay doors, which opened up to let him drive inside and he parked next to a long white limousine. A dignified, but muscular looking black jaguar in a chauffeur's uniform was leaning against the limo and intently watching. It took a few moments for the hare to realize that the big cat's interest was not in him, but the DB 8.

He got out of the car and slipped the keys into his front pant pockets. Two large bears stared down at him with frowns and both were aiming their pistols towards him. "Leave your gun on the ground," the smaller bear growled. "Also take that damn suit jacket off too."

Jack slowly withdrew his pistol and gently leaned over as he sat it down on the ground, before kicking it over to the bear. Just as slowly he pulled off his jacket and tossed it over to the bear too. "There we go my friend, are you now happy?" he asked. His ears went up when he heard someone spluttering and looked over to see the fox's head being pushed into a large bucket of icy water.

"I'm not your friend," the bear growled as he threw the jacket into an oil bay pit across the room.

"Tsk, tsk, that wasn't very nice," Jack sighed as he looked over to watch as Koslov shoved Nick's head back under the water. The shrew was standing on a large table, next to him. "You know Mister Big, drowning him isn't going to get him to talk. I'm afraid that he doesn't know anything about the watch or time travel. I on the other paw, would like to know who told you what I really was investigating?"

"Shut up Savage," Koslov growled as he pulled the fox's head back out of the water.

Nick gasped for breath and the fox pleaded, "I don't know what you're talking about! I would give you the watch if I had it!"

"Where's the watch!" the shrew angrily screamed. "You will tell me who's got this watch!" Jack realized that he wasn't yelling at the fox, but at him.

"I'm afraid that I haven't found this magical, mysterious watch either," the agent shrugged as he walked toward the large bear and the small shrew. He looked around at the room, there were two lifts nearby and one had a large sedan sitting on it as if it had been abandoned before the mechanic could finish his work. Behind the shrew and bear was the oil bay pit, an opening in the garage's concrete floor which allowed an oil change to be performed without having to put the vehicle on a lift.

"If you don't tell me, I'll kill him!" Mister Big growled. Koslov grabbed the panting fox's head again and began to push it into the bucket. "Tell me or he dies."

Jack knew that the shrew would never believe him, so he quickly glanced around and saw that the jaguar was still looking at the DB 8, both of the bears behind him were standing with their guns aimed at his back. Koslov was looking down at the struggling drowning fox. "Well, it's now or never," he sighed to himself. With a bound, he jumped high into the air, landing near Koslov and skidding under the large bear. He grabbed the fox from the startled bear's paw and with a grunt shoved him into the opening of the oil bay. Bullets whizzed overhead as he too rolled into the pit and landed with a grunt onto the hard concrete pad next to the stunned fox. He fumbled around with the car's key fob before he pushed the lock button one, twice and then a third time.

The car's explosion was defining and metal shards flew over the bay's opening. Nick looked over at the hare with his eyes wide open in shock. "What did you do?" he cried out.

"I blew up my partner's car," the agent chuckled. "Minos is going to be really pissed about that too."

"Big is going to kill us both!" the fox yelped out in fear.

"I doubt that," Jack said as he sat up and rubbed his shoulder. "I don't think Mister Big is ever going to bother anyone ever again." He reached past the fox and picked up the bloody remains of the flame charred shrew by his tail. The fox grimaced as he looked at the body and then he leaned over and puked. "Wilde you sure are squeamish for a fox," the rabbit added as he toss what was left of one of the city's most feared gangsters aside.

There was the sound of gunfire and then someone called out, "Savage are you okay?"

"Damn, he blew everyone up!" someone else remarked.

"I guess the cavalry has arrived," Jack said as he stood up and then noticing his jacket, he reached down and winced as he gingerly pulled it on, allowing his left arm to hang by his side. Slowly he gently removed the white handkerchief from the jacket's pocket and in an almost reverent manner stared at the "S" embroidered upon it in white thread with his paw. Assured that it was undamaged, he tucked it back into his pocket before he called out, "We are down here officers, but I think I may have broken my arm."


	24. A Fox Found

**Chapter 24: A Fox Found**

* * *

 _ **"One thing that time travel teaches you is that time changes, people don't."**_ – Rip Hunter, _DC's Legends of Tomorrow_ , Season 1: Pilot, Part 2

 **Miss Judy finally finds her fox, but things don't exactly happen the way she imagined that they would.**

* * *

 **1925**

"If I didn't know better, I could swear you are her?" the silver maned vixen said with a smirk as she looked the grey furred rabbit doe in the flowery dress over. "You look just like her and you even almost have the same scent. Let me guess, your sister ran off with the fox and so you and your boyfriend have come to save her? Well I have bad news for you, Judy loves that fox and Nick loves her."

"Wait! Are you saying that Nick is in love with a rabbit?" Miss Judy asked. Of course it was now making sense, the memories and the vague feelings she was having must have been those of the other Judy.

"So you aren't here looking for Judy, but looking for Nick instead?" Minnie asked as she stepped from around the counter to confront the two rabbits. She looked out of the door and saw two muscular red foxes and a bobcat kitten waiting outside. "What the hell is going on around here?"

"Nick sent for me to help him out, but he didn't really tell me where to meet him," Miss Judy answered. She was sort of telling the truth, he did send her the watch which started this whole thing.

"Well you just missed them. They went to Main Street looking for a flatfoot named Tommy Clawhauser," the vixen replied as she stood there facing the two rabbits with her arms crossed. "Judy was very insistent that they find him for some reason, you might start over at Cottonmouth Club." She glanced out of the window and frown when she saw Ricky again. "This town at night isn't the best place to go with a young kitten like that!"

"The cat is our responsibility," Rubin gruffly interrupted. "The boys will take care of him."

"Still, he doesn't look like he grew up on the streets and you sure don't sound like you're from around here either," Minnie chuckled. "But, I guess a young boy sooner or later needs to grow up some and learn a thing or two about the vices of the streets. H-Town at night will open his young eyes to all kinds of new experiences."

Rubin's ears quickly drooped, because he knew that she was right and where they were going was probably not the best place for a young kitten.

"Look your pal Nick has already paid for a bed tonight," Minnie continued as shook her head in disbelief at what she was about to say. The fox was no pushover, but her one weakness had always been that she had a soft heart when it came to helping others in need. It may have been because she had become a thief and worse by the kitten's age, a curse of growing up with a drug addicted mother and a missing father. She took it upon herself to care for her littermates, doing what was necessary to "earn" a living on the streets and alleyways of the town and the nearby city. Her life spiraled downward over the years, until she met a handsome black wolf. John Wolfe overlooked her flaws and over the years of being her lover, he patiently brought her from the brink of self-destruction. She sighed as she remembered the words of the radio preacher, Reverend Piberius, as he read from the Gospel of the Lamb earlier tonight, about being your brother's keeper. "Why don't you leave the kitten here and he can use Nick's bed. It's way past his bedtime and he looks worn out."

Rubin looked over at Miss Judy and after a few minutes, they went outside to talk with Ezekiel and Zachariah. Finally, despite Ricky's objections that he wasn't sleepy, which were vocalized between yawns, they decided to leave the kitten under the care of the vixen. Ezekiel reluctantly agreed to stay behind to keep an eye on things.

The red fox settled into a chair at the end of the shop after he finished tucking Ricky into the bed, the cat's protests didn't last very long before his weariness, along with the comfort of once again sleeping on a mattress, overcame him. "So yer a healer," the tod asked as he watched the vixen making another mixture for a customer. "Who taught ya? My ma is a healer too, she learn't from her mama. It kinda runs in the family, from one daughter to another."

"I was taught by a coyote shaman and later by a red panda over in the city," the vixen replied as she poured her concoction into an envelope. "After I met John, he talked me into enrolling in the Metropolitan Reformed Medical College, but I never finished my degree in Eclectic Medicine before they shut down."

"Our town doc is always cutting down mama and the other locals bout using herbs and potions," Ezekiel continued with a shrug of his shoulders. "I reckon, he don't care much fer their ways. Thing is ya'll take aspirin, it's just a fancy pill made from the same thing as willer bark that ya can yank off a tree fer free. That thar ya have next to yer paw will calm your tummy down just as well as them fancy bottled bitters."

"You mean this Chamaemelum nobile?" Minnie asked as she looked to where the tod was pointing. "It's also called Chamomile."

"Now that thar is a four-dollar word, my mama always just called them Scented Mayweed since it just pops up in the field and blooms in May." Ezekiel laughed. "Ah guess if'n ya slap a fancy name on things and ya can charge more fer it?"

"Scented Mayweed," the vixen chuckled to herself. "County boy, I think you mother is a wise lady."

"She's just good old farm girl!" the tod laughed. "Ain't nutten special bout her or me."

Down the street from the shop, Miss Judy, Rubin, and Zachariah stared in amazement at the crowd in front of them. Predators mingled with prey on the crowded sidewalks, all decked out in their finest evening clothes, and the streets were backed up with all kinds of fancy cars. Jazz music and ragtime piano filled the night air, and the bright lights from the signs were mesmerizing to their eyes. "Damn, I thought the fair was something?" Rubin muttered in awe and then his eyes noticed a pair of scantily dressed she wolves drinking from a bottle as they flirted with a well-dressed, but very inebriated zebra stallion. Their sequined dresses barely covered their tails as they wagged. "I think we made the right choice not bring little Ricky with us."

"I think they are called flappers?" Miss Judy replied as she watched one of the wolves rub herself provocatively against the stallion. As the wolf stepped back, the rabbit doe saw that she had the zebra's wallet in her paw. "Nope, they are pickpockets!" she snapped in an authoritarian tone.

Rubin firmly grabbed Miss Judy's paw as the rabbit began to charge towards the pair of wolves. "Miss Judy, you're not a copper, in fact you're still wanted by the police."

The doe's ears drooped as she looked at the wolves and then at the buck holding her paw, finally she nodded as she relaxed, "Old habits die hard. Besides, the truth is that I was really just a traffic cop…a meter maid…nothing more," she bitterly replied. "The last time I tried to be a cop, things didn't go too well and an innocent bystander was accidentally killed by the weasel I was chasing."

Both of the rabbits turned in surprise when they heard one of the she wolves yell, "Hey country boy, watch those paws!" They saw the larger wolf slap Zachariah across his muzzle, causing the fox to step back from her with a smirk.

As the two wolves stormed away, the fox walked over to the now sitting Zebra and handed him his wallet. "Ah reckon ya'll just bout lost this to them dames," the fox told the stallion. "Might want to up and call it a night."

"Hey fox, get away from our friend!" someone yelled as two more stallions unsteadily ran up to the where the Zebra was sitting. Zachariah raised his paws in the air and stepped away from the group, before returning to the two rabbits.

"What a fine howdy do I got fer savin their buddy's wallet," the tod huffed as he looked back at the three zebras. "Well as mama says, right is right and do right to others."

"Come on guys, there's the Cottonmouth Club," Miss Judy said as she pulled Rubin towards the building down the street.

Zachariah followed right behind them, but as they reached the entrance, a large bull blocked his entrance. "Another fox trying to get through the front door tonight!" the bouncer in the black tuxedo snorted. "Your kind isn't welcome here, except to work." Then he looked down at the two rabbits with an undisguised look of disgust when he saw the doe's flowery dress. "As for you two, you're a bit underdressed for a fine joint like this. I think all three of you should just move along."

Miss Judy quickly remembered that the vixen had said that Nick and the other Judy were looking for someone named Tommy Clawhauser. "We're looking for Clawhauser!" she quickly called out to the massive bull. "Do you know where we can find him?"

"Damn it, what is it about you rabbits and Clawhauser?" the bull snorted again. "As I told the other dame, look across the street in the dance hall, he ain't here!"

"Come on, the dance hall!" Miss Judy excitedly said as she pulled at Rubin's paw. "Maybe Nick is just across the street, come on!"

Rubin glanced over at Zachariah as the fox quickly followed the two rabbits. The fox had a look of concern as they weaved in and out of the honking traffic towards the other side of the busy street.

Miss Judy caught sight of a red fox from the corner of her eye and stopped to get a better look. The fox in the brown checkered suit was leaning heavily against the brick wall near the alleyway and had a forlorn look upon his face. "What's wrong?" Rubin said to her as he also looked at the fox.

"Nick?" she called out as she slowly approached the injured looking fox. "Nick, is that you?"

Nick looked over at the grey furred rabbit doe in the flowery dress, she was holding the paw of a white and black furred buck and there was a muscular looking fox standing behind her. "Judy?" he whispered in confusion. "You can't be Judy, how did you escape?"

"Nick!" the doe happily yelled as she released the frowning buck's paw. She ran towards the injured fox and gave him a joyous embrace. "I came, just like you wanted!"

"Like I wanted?" Nick asked as the bunny hugged him, he didn't hug her back but looked at her in bewilderment. She sounded just like Judy and her scent was almost the same, but he picked up that the doe had been marked by the buck and also smelled like lavender. Pushing her away, he looked down into her familiar amethyst eyes. "I don't understand, just who are you?"

"I'm Judy!" she cried out in confusion. "You sent me the watch and a note to stop you! I wound the watch just like you said in your note and it sent me back in time to you!"

"No, you're not Judy!" Nick protested as he pushed her away. "Judy has been with me the whole time, they just took her…she's been kitnapped!"

Rubin grabbed Miss Judy's arm and pulled her back, much to the aggravation of the doe. "I think we need to go someplace and figure this out," the buck said in a concerned voice. "You said your friend was a rabbit also named Judy and someone has kitnapped her?"

Nick nodded as they walked back into the alleyway and away from the crowded streets. "You said I sent you back here to stop me doing something, what was it?" he asked the rabbit doe. "Have we ever met?"

"No, but everyone knows who Nicholas P. Wilde is or was!" Miss Judy answered. "You were the richest fox in the world and started Foxconn."

The red fox shook his head in disbelief, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out the broken pocket watch. "There is no possible way for me to have sent you the watch, I still have it."

Miss Judy reached into her straw purse and pulled out what appeared to be the same watch. "You sent this to me at the police station with a note to wind the watch, it ran backwards and I ended up in an alleyway in Zootopia. I'm from the future, 2018 to be exact."

"That's impossible!" Nick slightly snarled in frustration as he shook his head. "Judy and I are from 2018, we are police officers. This watch was found on an old body dumped in the swamps just north of downtown. I accidentally wound it and the next thing we knew both Judy and I were here!"

"Then I reckon the future Nick Wilde dun sent the watch to Miss Judy with the note to stop ya from doin sumptin he didn't want ya to do?" Zachariah suddenly said as he stepped closer to the group. "We need to figure that thar thingy out, but first don't ya think we need to up and save the other Judy first?"

"Maybe that's what the future you wanted us to do?" Rubin added as he once again took Miss Judy's paw. "So let figure out where she was taken and by whom?

Nick stumbled slightly, before Zachariah grabbed his arm and steadied him. "Ah was thar at the fair that night when the coppers beat you up when they was a lookin for Miss Judy, I'm surprised ya can even walk."

Nick stiffened as he looked at the rabbit doe and the large straw purse she was holding. "You're the rabbit who took the gun!" he snarled in an accusing voice. "You're the one the police came looking for, not my Judy!"

Miss Judy's ears flattened as she looked at the now angry fox. "I got the gun, I thought we might need it…" she began.

"They beat me, treated me like trash, all because of you!" Nick snarled again as he leaned heavily against the alley's brink wall. "All this time I thought they were after my Judy!"

"STOP IT!" Rubin suddenly yelled. "She took the gun because she was scared! You sent her back here with nothing but a note that said to stop you, what did you think would happen? Now your friend is missing, so do you want to find her or not?"

Nick looked over at the angry buck and his ears were flat in surprise. "Of course I want to find her!" he answered in a desperate tone.

"Then let's find someplace to sit down and work this out," the buck continued. "You two need to talk while you rest Nick. While you two are doing that, Zach and I can ask around about who's having this party.

* * *

 **Eclectic Medicine or botanical and physical based medical based remedies were popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The American Medical Association was very critical of their practices and many of the schools were pressured out of business, the last closing its doors in 1939.**


	25. Dark Tidings

**Chapter 25: Dark Tidings**

* * *

 **"Nothing is as far away as one minute ago."** \- Jim Bishop.

 **Sometimes things don't go the way you want them to go!**

* * *

 **Present Day**

The thin agent wearily sat down in a hospital chair, trying not to look at the large white cast that covered his left arm. Across the room, the fox named Nick Wilde was back in a hospital bed again, this time with his leg now held up in traction since the break had to be reset after his kitnapping. "What is all this junk which Mister Big kept saying about a watch and time traveling?" the fox asked in a somewhat dazed voice. He was back on pain medication and was much chattier then before. "If I could have gone back in time, I'd go to the night I tried to join the scouts and talk myself out of it. Then I would go into the church and kick those little bastards' tails for good measure."

"Wilde, life gives us choices and we have to live with the ones we make," the Jack sighed as he lowered his good arm to his side and flexed it in frustration. He had caught himself reaching for the handkerchief again and realized that it was a bad habit he had gotten into lately, habits like that got agents killed. Unlike the fox, he had refused any pain medication because he wanted his wits about him. "I've made plenty of bad choices in my life, but it does no good regretting what you've done in the past."

"You mean choices, like blowing up your dear partner's car?" a voice added as a suave looking cat in a black suit entered the room and gave the hare an amused look. "Q-Branch said to tell you that they have your DB 10 all fixed and ready, but I've been told they are keeping the keys until you take another drivers test."

"Sorry about that," Jack chuckled. "The explosion was rather magnificent, so Q-Branch should be somewhat proud."

"It killed the jaguar, two of the polar bears, and the shrew," the cat named Minos said as plopped into the seat next to Jack. "The bigger bear…ah, Koslov…he barely survived the explosion, but still managed to get to his feet and even draw his gun when the guys entered the burning garage. They said it took three shotgun rounds to drop him for good."

"So Mister Big and Koslov are both dead?" Nick asked as he tried to scratch inside his cast. "Good, maybe I won't have to keep looking over my shoulder all the time!"

"Speaking of time, is this supposed to be the guy?" Minos asked as he looked over at the fox. Jack caught a that his partner's voice was somewhat strained, a small inflection in his verbiage which only someone who had worked with the cat for as long as he had would have caught. "He sure doesn't look or act anything like the real Nicholas P. Wilde, you know the dead rich guy."

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" the fox slurred out as he tried to sit up. His eyes were dilated and he was beginning to pant.

"It means that you are now worthless to our investigation and know too much," the cat replied with a deep sigh. "Sorry Wilde."

Jack glanced over at Nick with concern. He had just saved the poor guy's life at his own personal risk and now he feared what was happening. "No!" he protested as he watched the fox begin to spasm and gasp. The heart monitor alarm went off, yet no one in the medical team came running. He watched the cat stand up, cross the room and with a flick of his paw, turned the machine off.

"The Agency said no witnesses to this investigation, it would cause too many headaches if the press or any politicians ever found out that time travel might be real," Minos replied with a shrug as he dug into his pocket for a pistachio. "You know the rules Jack."

Jack Savage frowned as he looked at the dead fox's body.

"Another unpleasant task has been taken care of," the cat continued. He appeared unconcerned about what had just happened as he slowly munched on the nut. "We have a lead on who leaked the information to Big and I'm supposed to meet one of Big's former associates over in the Big Dune section of Sahara Square. You are welcome to come along, but I'm doing the driving this time."

* * *

 **1925**

Nick sat in the booth inside of the small mixed species coffee shop they had found and looked warily over at the rabbit doe, her appearance and voice was just like Judy's and yet she didn't act exactly like her. "We can't just sit here and drink coffee all night, I've got to save Carrots…I mean Judy!" he protested.

"You are in no condition to save anyone," the rabbit doe replied. She had gently put her paw on his, but he quickly yanked his away. "Rubin and Zachariah will find out where she is and then we will save her."

Nick frowned as he watched her, all those years of being a hustler and then a cop made him realize that there was something in her mannerism which set her apart from his Judy. "You never became a real cop!" he suddenly blurted out when he realized what it was. "Why didn't you become a cop?"

"Nick, I tried…I really did. I…I was even the valedictorian of my class at the Police Academy, but Chief Bogo wouldn't let me do anything but parking duty," the rabbit answered as she looked down and gave a soft sniffle. "Then one day I was writing tickets and…and…well, there was a weasel who stole bulbs from a flower shop."

"Weaselton," Nick added. "His name is Duke Weaselton and you caught him, right?"

"No, I chased in him into Little Rodentia and he kicked a large display doughnut at me. It missed me, but killed a civilian," Judy sniffled. "In the confusion, he escaped."

"Her name is Fru Fru and you didn't miss, you caught it and saved her!" Nick objected as he looked at her with concern. "She's now your…I mean Judy's, best friend."

"She may be your Judy's best friend," the rabbit replied. She looked at him with tears forming in her amethyst eyes. "But I…I failed to protect her and she was killed because of my mistake!"

Nick tensed up, he had seen that look before and it was the one thing that hurt him the most to see. He just could not stand seeing Judy cry, even if this wasn't his Judy. Instinctively he reached over and squeezed the rabbit's paw. "I'm sorry that happened," he almost whispered. "It was after we had first met, after I was so…so, belittling and mean to you about wanting to be a cop."

The rabbit doe looked up at him with curiosity and wiped her eyes, before she replied, "You and I have never met before."

"Really?" Nick replied with a smile. "We, well I mean my Judy and I first met when I was working with my then partner Finn and we were doing the Pawpsicle scam. I was trying to get a huge jumbo pop in an elephant owned ice cream parlor and I almost failed, when you…I mean my Judy…came in and I conned her into not only getting the guy to sell me the over sized popsicle, but I also got her to pay for it too!"

"You're kidding me!" Miss Judy giggled. "She was really that naive?

"Of course you were...I mean she was," Nick replied with a laugh. "Of course what set me off was when you…I mean Judy...earnestly told me that I was a great dad and even called me a real articulate fella."

"Gods, how condescending of her, to say that!" Miss Judy laughed. "That was very patronizing to say that to any fox!"

"Yeah, Carrots is one of a kind!" the fox laughed. He stiffened as he looked over at the other Judy. "Well, maybe two of a kind?"

"I wish I had met you Nick," the rabbit doe added. "It sounds like you turned her life around."

"Yep, that I did and she did the same for me!" Nick proudly replied. "We solved both the Missing Mammals Case and the Night Howlers Case, bringing Bellwether to justice. She even talked me into even become a police officer too!"

"Mayor Bellwether?" Miss Judy quickly replied as she sat up, her ears had shot up in surprise. "Are you saying that Mayor Dawn Bellwether is behind all those predators going savage?"

"Yeah, she had a group were making a chemical from the Midnicampum holy-something-or-other!" the fox answered. "We call them Night Howlers and she had a group of rams shooting their victims to make them go savage. Judy and I got the gun and pellets from her stooges and then hustled Bellwether into confessing what she did on that little carrot shaped tape recorder pen that Carrots carries. Are you saying that the case was never solved?"

"No, we figured it was something inherently biological and then after they impeached Lionheart, Mayor Bellwether had the most dangerous predators detained and imprisoned until they can figure it out. Some of the other lesser predators are still free to roam around, but have been outfitted shock collars to keep them from hurting others." Miss Judy answered. Her nose was twitching and Nick could not help but simile, because it the same way his Judy acted when she was frustrated with something happening. After a few moments, she smiled at him and added. "So you really became a police officer! I can't believe that they let a fox become a cop!"

"Judy and I are partners!" Nick laughed as he picked up his cup of coffee. "If you don't believe It, I'll have to prove it by ordering one of those doughnuts to prove I'm a cop. You know what they say about doughnuts and cops!"

"Ughh!" Don't mention doughnuts around me please!" Miss Judy replied with a small smile. "I can't believe where you are from, that they let a rabbit and a fox become real cops. I'll bet they put you on parking duty."

"Only when Chief Bogo gets mad at me for something I may have said," Nick shrugged. "Old Buffalo Butt just makes the jokes come out too easy."

"You tease Chief Bogo!" the rabbit laughed as she gave the fox a smile. "No one teases Bogo!"

"He actually has a bit of a sense of humor," Nick objected before he took another sip of his coffee. "I think he is really going to miss me, despite what he will claim."

"He doesn't know you, at least not as a cop." Miss Judy said with a frown. "The only Nicholas P Wilde we know of is deceased, but he was rather rich and the founder of Foxcon. He was the one who sent me the watch, or at least his attorneys had it delivered to me years after he died."

"Well if that is me and I'm thirty-five this year, I would have to be to have been well over a hundred years old," Nick scoffed as he pawed his coffee and took a sip.

"One hundred and twenty-eight," Miss Judy replied. "Hey, we rabbits are good at multiplying!" she sarcastically added.

Nick choked on his coffee and wheezed. She had taken him by surprise when she said that in the same tone and with the same look which his Judy had given him that day on the street. Judy had said that to him the day she hustled him into helping her with her investigation. "So I've heard," he finally choked out.

"Ah reckon ya'll have been having a good time while me and old Rubin have been a beating the bushes, trying to find yer rabbit!" Zachariah chuckled as he slid into the booth next to Nick.

"We found her!" Rubin quickly added as he sat next to Judy and put his paw around her shoulder. He was frowning and looked scared. "I just don't know how we are going to rescue her from HIM?"

* * *

Across town Judy found herself shoved into an elegant bedroom, where a black sequenced dress was laying on the bed. "You want me to wear that!" she said in disbelief to the lion, who gave her a bored look.

"That's the dress, put it on and then get your tail out there. You need to start serving drinks to the guests," Lucky replied as he sat down in a chair and stared at her.

"A girl needs her privacy," the rabbit said as she frowned at the large cat. He didn't budge an inch but sat there watching.

"Too bad toots," he finally said with a grin. "I'm staying put so you don't sneak out of the window. Just get dressed and hurry up about it."

Judy sighed as she slowly stripped off her dress, trying to cover herself from the watching lion. Finally, she slipped on the new dress and gave it a shake, pulling it down to release her tail from its confines. "Satisfied?" she snapped at the big cat.

"Not a bad body for a thumper," he laughed. "Don't worry sweetheart, you're much too small for my tastes. Look cottontail, Bugsy promised you a good time and that you won't get hurt. Besides, I'm not a prey chaser so get that tail hopping and start serving drinks!"

"You kitnapped me just to serve drinks?" Judy snapped back in surprise at the larger gangster.

"The boss likes his bunnies, but he's already got a girl tonight," the lion shrugged. "So you can just serve drinks instead."

"What if I say no?" she replied as she stamped her right foot in anger.

"I'm not giving you a choice," the lion yawned out as he stretched and as if to prove his point, he unsheathed his claws.

"So much for Bugsy's promise!" Judy huffed out. "He also said that Clawhauser would be here, I guessing he isn't?"

"Oh good old Tommy will be here sooner or later, once the boys find him. The boss ain't too happy with that nosy cat," the lion chuckled. "Now enough of this blabbering and get to work."

Judy opened the door and tentatively stepped out into the full room. She was surprised to see a crowd of very well dressed mammals of all kinds, some she recognized from the Crime Museum as being infamous gangsters. Someone was at the piano playing ragtime and her ears shot up when she recognized the familiar voice, it was Fatts! The plump fox was grinning and singing, putting on a show as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Play another tune Fatts, another one for little Molly!" an authoritarian voice called out and Judy looked over at the chubby jaguar in a tuxedo, the cat's arms were wrapped around a scared looking young white-tailed deer doe who was also dressed in a black sequenced dress. The rabbit's eyes widened in both fear and awe when she realized who the big cat was...it was Al Catpone!

* * *

 **There is a story that the jazz legend Fats Waller, whom Fatts Wily is based upon, was actually kidnapped at gun point in 1926 and was delivered as a "present" from "the boys"** **to Al Capone for his birthday party. He was the gangster's "guest" at the Hawthorne Inn in East Cicero near Chicago for three days before he was returned unharmed with thousands of dollars stuffed in his pockets and supposedly a taste for fine Champagne**.


	26. Prepare for Righteous Fury

**Chapter 26: Prepare for Righteous Fury**

* * *

 **"Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm."** _-_ The Prince in the _Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time_

 **Nick seeks help and finds out that sometimes those you idolize disappoint you.**

* * *

 **1925**

"Who are you talking about?" Nick asked as he looked over at the black and white furred male rabbit sitting at the other side of the table. The hare had his arm protectively over the grey rabbit doe's shoulder.

"Al Catpone has her!" Rubin whispered out as he furtively glanced around at the shop's other patrons. "The Al Catpone!"

The fox sat back into his chair and closed his eyes for a moment before replying, "By all the gods, are you telling me that the most powerful gangster in Zootopia's history has his paws on my Judy?"

"He sure does, but we ain't yet figured where they dun went," Zachariah answered, the other fox also looked around with concern. "This here is also his town and there ain't no cops round abouts that are gonna help us gitten her back neither."

"Let me think…" Nick sighed in a determined voice as he once again closed his eyes and played with his coffee cup. Finally he opened them again and looked around. "We'll need help from someone who knows this town and all of the ins and outs of this era, someone we can trust."

"Where can we find someone like that?" Miss Judy asked. Her ears were erect and her nose twitched with frustration "We don't know anyone in this town…do we?"

"When in doubt, look to family," the fox replied as he suddenly stood up and threw some cash on the table. "Follow me!" Pushing back his chair, he bolted towards the coffee shop's door. The others ran after him because despite his injuries, it was quite evident that he knew someone who could help them save Judy and he was determined to get to him fast.

The fox led them off of Main Street and down the dark narrow backstreets, which were lined with rickety tenements packed with residents. They ran past old vehicles, strewn rubbish, homeless vagrants and into a bewildering labyrinth of alleyways until they came upon a small park, a haven of greenery amongst all the poverty. Before them stood a modest building made of clapboard siding with a small illuminated sign hanging over the door that read "Wilde Times Billiards." Despite the very late hours the place seemed to be not only open, but was also very busy.

"Doesn't anyone ever sleep around here?" Rubin observed when they came to a stop in the middle of the park.

"Most of us predators are naturally nocturnal," Nick almost absentmindedly answered as he looked at the building in front of him.

"What are we waiting for?" Miss Judy asked as she looked over at the fox, who was just staring at the rather rundown looking building with his ears flat. "You look surprised?"

"I was expecting something a bit grander," Nick huffed out as if disappointed at what he saw. "My grandfather made this place sound like it was a great safe haven for us foxes, but this place looks more like a dump!"

"So does this place belongs to your family?" the rabbit doe added. "How are you related to the owner?"

"My great-grandfather and his brother Frank own the place," Nick finally answered. "Although I can't tell them, mom said that before they were killed, they both were considered community leaders among us foxes. I'm hoping that they might have some idea where Judy was taken, but first I've got to come up with a believable story. I can't just charge in there claiming that I'm his great-grandson from the future, they'd lock me up in Cliffside Asylum."

"You said they were killed, who dun kills them?" Zachariah asked.

"Spoilers!" Nick slightly chuckled as he remembered what one of his favorite characters on a popular time travel themed television show would tell others when she was asked about the future. He glanced over at the building again before he walked towards the door.

"Spoilers?" the other fox asked as he gave the other fox a confused look. "What does that thar mean?"

"That means he's not going to tell you," Judy answered as she gripped Rubin's paw tighter. "Things are complicated enough without changing the future again."

"Well then I reckon that ya can tell him yer kin folk from the Burrows and in love wid the bunny," Zachariah suggested. "Then tell him she was up and grabbed by Catpone."

"Great now I'm a prey chaser," Nick softly chuckled as he looked back at the other fox.

"A good lie always has some truth in it," the county fox added with a shrug of his shoulders.

Nick gave a small smile as he shook his head. "Great now I've got you quoting Reynard to me," he scoffed.

"What fox ain't heard a Reynard tale of two?" the other fox laughed. "I reckon ya got a better idea?"

Nick paused at the doorway, trying not to show he was nervous as he tried to gather his courage. Finally, he took a deep breath before he shoved it open and walked inside. The smoke filled room was full of foxes of all sorts, the walls were paneled with rich oak and he was surprised how luxurious the inside was compared to the outside. The foxes inside paused at their pool games and looked up at the strange group of mammals that entered into the building, two red fox tods and a rabbit couple. Ears shot up and tails stopped swishing at the sight of the buck and doe, clearly they didn't belong there. Rubin protectively stepped in front of Miss Judy, as if he was preparing to fight every fox in the room to protect her. He obviously had already forgotten that of the two of them, she was the better fighter. A fact that was recently proven already at the fairgrounds.

"I'm looking for Richard or Frank Wilde," Nick called out. "I'm his cousin from the Burrows."

"Get Ricky," a small tan fennec fox in an old grey suit called over to a plump grey fox vixen in a worn flowery dress, she had been sweeping the floor. "Tell him to get his tail out here, he's got company!" The fox's voice was deep and reminded Nick of his friend Finnick's. He watched the vixen scurry into the backroom, leaving her broom in the corner.

A few minutes later, a red fox dressed in a white dress shirt, with both of his sleeves pulled back and a soiled red stripped tie, entered the room and looked them over. His smirk turned into surprise when he saw Nick.

Miss Judy stared first at the fox, who had just entered the room, and then over at Nick. It was almost as if they were twins. Both had the same lanky build and their facial features were as if they were cast from the same mold. "Who are you and what do you want?" the other tod finally asked, their voices were the same too.

"I'm…I'm Nick Wilde from the Burrows and I need your help," Nick finally stuttered out in shock at seeing his great-grandfather. "Aunt…I mean Cousin Flora said to look you up when I came to town."

"You're related to Flora?" the other fox named Ricky asked in a skeptical tone. "When did you meet her, I thought she moved out west somewhere?"

Nick knew he was caught in a lie, but tried not to show it. "Well…" he began to explain.

"Suh, we're sorry ta have up and bothered you," Zachariah interjected as he stepped up next to Nick. "He's yer kin alright and I ain't, but his girl done has been snatched up by some bad fellers and figured ya might ken where they dun took her."

"You sound like you're from the Burrows, but Slick here…well, I have no idea where you came from?" Ricky chuckled as he nodded towards Nick. "So you two think I'm some kind of expert on this town's criminals or something?"

"That has to be the worse start of a hustle that I've ever heard," a strong voice called out from behind Ricky. Nick's ears flattened and his mouth dropped open in surprise as he stared in awe at a living legend.

"Piberius!" the tod finally muttered in surprise, because the most famous fox of the last century was standing in the doorway smirking at him. Piberius, the legendary civil rights leader himself was standing just in front of him! But, Nick's look of awe quickly turned to a frown when a sultry red fox vixen in a dark blue sequenced flapper dress slipped under the preacher's arm as she handed him a glass of cheap gin. "I thought you were the great Reverend Samuel Piberius," Nick softly growled in disappointment. "The hellfire radio preacher, who speaks for temperance, virtue, and civil rights, but you are a fraud and just another hustler!"

"Come on fox, everyone has to have a gimmick to make cash!" the preacher laughed as he pulled the white collar off from around his neck and handed it to the vixen. "A con to milk the gullible, but adoring, public from their hard earned cash."

"I think that Slick here actually believed you!" Ricky scoffed.

The fox in the black ecclesiastical robe stepped forward and looked both Nick and Zachariah over before he shifted his gaze towards Miss Judy and Rubin. His smirk changed to a grin as he looked at the two rabbits. "So who's this bunny of yours tod and why do you think we can help you get her back, even if we wanted to?" he asked as he stepped forward and looked Nick in the eyes.

"Her name is Judy and I love her," he answered much to the amusement of the other foxes in the room.

Piberius however didn't laugh, but grabbed Ricky and pulled him over next to Nick. "Well he may not be from the Burrows, but he sure does look like he's related to you Ricky," the preacher finally chuckled. "Hell, you two look just alike."

"I never met his guy before," Ricky huffed as he stepped away from Nick and towards the doorway. Another fox entered the room and he went to stand next to him. "You know this guy Frankie?" he asked the newcomer.

The other fox, who was obviously related, shook his head. "Hell, Ricky he looks more like your brother than I do," he chuckled.

With a dramatic swish of his robe, the preacher turned to face Nick again. "So…ah, Nick…do you know who took your bunny?" he asked.

Nick looked the over at the two brothers and then Piberius. "Catpone's guys took her," he answered in a grim tone. "Al Catpone."

"No shitten?" Frank blurted out in surprise. "He took her and you want to just get her back? Are you crazy fox, they'll gun you down before your make the door at the Buckhorne."

"Of course, they have to be at the Buckhorne Inn!" Miss Judy exclaimed. "That's his headquarters here in Happy Town and he's fortified the place by now, a rival gang from the city shot up the place in 1924. Two cars full of gangsters with machine guns riddled the place with bullets and a third car followed, they were hoping that Catpone would come outside to see who was in the other cars. They missed him but killed five others."

"That place is solid limestone with bullet proof shutters over the windows," Frank added as he now leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "No one gets in there unless they are invited."

"I can get in," Piberius announced. "I'm going in the front door and bringing this bunny…ah, your Judy with me when I leave."

"You now think you're bullet proof?" Ricky scoffed as he stepped over to face the preacher. "You just going to waltz on into the place and no one is going to stop you? Are you crazy fox?"

"I'm not going alone!" the reverend laughed. "Do you think that even Catpone has the balls to gun me down in the presence of my crusaders, especially when the press is watching?"

"There are a few of those old biddies I'd like see gunned down," Frank scoffed.

"Frank!" Ricky exclaimed. "Don't say such a thing, even if you are joking!"

"Who's joking?" Frank snickered. He rolled his eyes when he saw the look his brother was giving him.

The fox in the black robe reached over and gently grabbed the red vixen's arm. He slowly took the white collar from her paws and held it up in the air. "Well my dear, I guess playtime is over and it's time for the Right Reverend Piberius to launch another crusade against the forces of evil!" he proclaimed in a loud voice as he put the collar back around his neck. Raising his voice even louder he called out, "It's time to call forth the fury of all the gods upon those sinners who await holy righteousness in retribution for their blasphemous ways!" Then lifting up his glass of gin, he saluted the watching foxes before he drank it down in one gulp.

His dramatic proclamation was greeted by laughter and cheers from all the other foxes in the room, all save Nick and Zachariah.

* * *

 **Al Capone's headquarters was in the Hawthorne Inn in Cicero, Illinois. On September 20, 1926, a rival gang machine gunned the building in an attempt to kill the gangster. This was the beginning of a cycle of violence between Capone and the Northside Gang which would ultimately lead to the infamous so called St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929.**


	27. Deceptions

**Chapter 27: Deceptions**

* * *

" **We all have our time machines, don't we? Those that take us back are memories and those that carry us forward, are dreams."** \- Über-Morlock in _The Time Machine._

 **Jack and Minos have a private chat about the Agency and also discuss Nick's death**. **This may be a bit of a heavy chapter, but it's essential for you to understand this version of Jack Savage.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

Jack Savage tried not to show that the throbbing pain he was feeling from his broken arm was bothering him as he crawled into the passenger's seat of the black sports sedan. His partner Minos put the DB 10 into drive and they pulled out onto the empty street heading eastwards towards the suburb of Hyenahurst. After of few minutes of seemingly staring out the vehicle's window, the thin jackrabbit finally turned to the aegean cat and asked, "How did you find someone in the mob who would talk to you so fast?"

"You know the old sailor's saying that a rat will be the first to flee a sinking ship?" the cat laughed. "He came to me. It seems that the news of Mister Big's death has already moved fast on the streets and we can soon expect a mob war to begin over the leadership of his organization."

The hare tried to keep his ears from twitching, a common physical reaction which jackrabbits do when aggravated and that is why most of his species were poor poker players. Instead, he watched the buildings wiz by until they finally turned south towards the coastline. It took them about twenty minutes more before Minos finally pulled the car off the street and down a dusty dirt road that led into a barren looking park which was surrounded by tall sand dunes. "We're here boss!" the cat announced as he turned off the car's headlights and parked.

Jack slightly nodded as he adjusted the sling, which held the white plaster cast against his chest, and climbed out of the sedan. Warm salty air ruffled his fur and pushed against his black striped erect ears as he stepped onto the soft grayish brown sand. The sky overhead was full of stars and he squinted into the surrounding darkness, before he opened what appeared to be just a pair of ordinary sunglasses and slipped them over his muzzle. With a press of a hidden button the thermal imaging came on illuminating the darkness as he gently stripped off his jacket and sat it back inside the car. He watched as the cat also removed his jacket, before Minos pulled out a small object and pushed a button. A prerecorded conversation between the two partners began as they silently stepped away from the car and up the side of a nearby sand dune, knowing that the listening devices inside the vehicle, and in the buttons on their jackets, would pick up the false conversation for whoever was listening.

After walking away from their car, the cat pulled out another device and flipped a switch. "I knew that our tape recording would come in handy one day and this will scramble any other listening devices," the cat explained as he pulled out a pistachio nut from his pocket and picked it open.

"What about Wilde?" Jack asked as he quickly snatched the now open nut from the cat's paw and popped it into his mouth. "You almost had me worried that you actually killed him and I was about to intervene until you hastily went over and flipped off the monitor. I was hoping you wouldn't let them kill him, not after breaking my damn arm trying to save him."

"Hey the old fake poison in the drip line has always worked before," the cat answered with a shrug as he opened and munched on another nut. "I had to switch off the monitor before the fox's heart started again. It should have fooled all the eyes and ears that were watching within the room, that joint was full of bugs. Next time we do that, if we ever do it again, at least try to show some more emotion and just don't gawk at me."

"What did you do with his so called body?" the hare finally asked, seemingly ignoring his partners advice. The rabbit scanned the sky overhead, looking for a drone or anything else which might be searching for them.

"His hastily arranged girlfriend claimed the corpse and because he supposedly now belonged to that weird Holtaþórr fox cult, it was quickly cremated. They claim to do that so his soul could be released," the cat chuckled as he pulled on his own pair of sunglasses and looked around. "At least that's what the records will show. I really arranged for some of my old smuggling buddies to take Wilde out of the city and he should be heading across the sea in the morning. I hope the fox likes Kakavia and anchovies, because where he is going is a bit…how do you say it? Oh yes! It's going to be a bit more backwards where he will be now living." The cat hesitated for a moment as he reconsidered the fox's fate again and then added with a grin, "But then again the fox was living under a bridge, so it might be an improvement."

"As I recall the vixens in your homeland are very attractive and somewhat promiscuous too, so he should be fine," Jack replied with a smile.

"Ah the Cadmean vixens are fast, but once you catch one…well, let just say that they are very accommodating, if you know what I mean?" the cat laughed out. He sighed before the pair of partners went silent for a few minutes, finally Minos continued. "Jack, I'm worried about you. Years ago you wouldn't have batted an eye over the Agency killing Wilde or anyone else who got in the way of your mission, you've grown soft since her death."

"I'm tired of leaving a trail of dead innocents behind me, what the Agency callously classifies as the collateral damage caused by our actions," the hare softly replied as he looked across the dunes to the northwestward and towards the bright lights of the city's tall skyscrapers shining in the darkness. To the northeast of them was the tall distinctive Palm Hotel and Casino, which loomed over Sahara Square and it appeared as if it was an oversize palm tree planted in the midst of the surrounding adobe buildings. Beyond that was the enormous climate wall and the snow covered mountains of Tundratown. "My wife was one of those victims and I'm convinced that the Agency allowed my enemies to kill her just to keep me in line." Jack hesitated as he looked southward towards the sea and his ears drooped behind him. "She was the light of my life," he sadly continued in almost a broken whisper to his partner. "We thought…I hoped… that we could leave all of this behind us and start anew. I know you warned me that we both were in too deep and that agents like us don't leave, even to retire."

"We know too much," Minos agreed with a deep sigh as he put a paw on the hare's shoulder. "They don't want to let go of anyone who knows where any of the bodies are buried. You should have known better then to think otherwise, your first field mission was to find Agent Fleming. They said that James went rogue, but he just got tired of all of this and left to peacefully live in a remote village on the edge of the Great Savannah. It wasn't long after you found him that he died in that so called accident. No old friend, our day of reckoning is coming and once we get too old for field work, if we live that long, then we will be of no further use to the Agency either and just another liability."

Jack hung his head slightly and sadly nodded. "How did the Agency ever get this powerful without being reigned in?" he finally asked. "Clandestine funding and hidden agendas, all protected by interests within the bureaucracy. There is no effective accountability from anyone outside of the organization. Hell, the Director cannot control everything that the hierarchy of department heads are doing, even if he knew half of what they have going on!"

"A bureaucratic monstrosity," the cat agreed. "We all sold our freedom for the perceived security from the bad guys. The problem is that the average Joe doesn't realize that we too have also become the bad guys."

"Partner, things have gotten out of paw and there are those inside the organization who have grossly overstepped our mandated authority, they have to be stopped." Jack snapped in anger. "I'm afraid that they have taken Bellwether's formula and are going to try to weaponize it somehow."

"Just think what they would do with time travel?" the cat began to reply before he paused talking and frowned as he looked at the distance highway. "Mice!" he finally continued. "It's not our contact, but it looks like a Agency surveillance team from another department trying to keep tabs on us. They are pulling off the highway just north of us."

"Playtime is over! Let's get back to the car before they notice we are gone from it. We've got our own spies spying on our own spies now." the rabbit sighed as he adjusted his sling again. "By the way, do you have any idea of who was Big's contact inside of the Agency?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Dugbrowski!" Minos laughed out as he followed his partner back towards the car. "Our mole really is a mole! Our contact is suppose to confirm this, but he is late." He switched off the device, ending the scrambling signal, as they stepped up to the car and listened to the prerecorded conversation.

Switching off the tape, Jack slipped right into the ongoing conversation as he sat in the car seat. "So Sarah told Karen to keep her tail out of the case," he said with a forced laugh.

"You know how territorial those golden jackals can get, she'll literally snap at you if you get in her way!" Minos replied with a chuckle. "Are you really sure that you're not mad with me about Wilde?" he added knowing that the listeners would expect that subject to be discussed between the partners.

"I shouldn't have saved him, he had no further use in our investigation and didn't know anything of any value" the hare sighed out. "I did all that work for nothing and broke my arm to boot."

"You know the Agency's rules and that I had no choice, we couldn't let him just walk the streets because he now knew too much," the cat gently admonished him. "At least you weren't added to the list too."

"Thank the gods for small favors," Jack sarcastically replied. "I'm sure that I'll get a hell of lecture from the big boss when get finished with this case."

"Trust me that you will. Penny said that he was plenty pissed off that you destroyed another car," the cat chuckled as he pulled out another nut. They sat silently in the car for about half an hour more before Minos stepped out and took one last look around. He frowned as he sat back in the driver's seat and then gave a shrug, "Well shit boss, it looks like we were stood up again! Our contact must have chickened out. Where do you want to go now?"

"Back to the hotel," Jack sighed. "I'm bushed and ready to call it a night. So far all of our leads have been dead ends, this mythical time traveling watch must have disappeared with Hopps."

Minos started the engine and with a roar, pulled out onto the sandy road. The cat briefly glanced southward towards the sea and then at the car's clock. "There's not much of the night left boss, it is soon going to be dawn," he observed.

Jack just answered with a yawn.

Back at their hotel suite, the hare closed his bedroom's blinds before stripping off his clothes. After he unholstered his pistol, he placed it under his pillow before gently pulling out the white handkerchief with the embroidered "S" on it from his jacket pocket. With a sad sigh, he clutched it against his chest as he climbed under the sheets. "I miss you my love...my Skye," he softly said as he closed his eyes and finally fitfully drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **Kakavia is an ancient Greek fish soup and it gets its name from the "kakavi", that is the traditional** **tripod** **pot** **in which it's cooked.**

 **Holtaþórr** ** **(Thor of the Holt)** is named after a breed of red furred fox which once survived** **on Iceland.**

 **The** **Cadmean vixens are based upon the ancient Greek myth of the Cadmean Vixen.** **T** **he legend says the the magical vixen could never be caught and after considering the people's plight, the magical hound** **Laelaps was sent to catch her. However, the** **hound could never catch the vixen and the fox could never elude the hound. Finally, the god** **Zeus looked down from Mount Olympus and observed the never ending chase that was taking place and decided that he could not let it continue on the earth. He transformed both the fox and hound into constellations, Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor (Cadmean Vixen). So tonight look up into the night sky and you can see them continue their chase in the heavens above.**


	28. The Rescue

**Chapter 28: The Rescue**

* * *

 **"You can't go back to any time where you already exist, where you might meet a double of yourself. It is bad for the fabric of reality."** – Rufus in _Timeless._

 **Judy reflects about the night's events before she is saved and is shocked by who she meets.**

* * *

 **1925**

The grey rabbit doe in the black sequenced flapper style dress was exhausted as she sat on a stool trying not to nod off into sleep during the early predawn hours just before sunrise. All night she had worked hard serving drinks to some of history's most dangerous and infamous gangsters, including Al Catpone. There were plenty of others who attended the party and they came in and out throughout the night. A few prominent politicians, several businessmen, and more than of pawful of labor union bosses had stopped in for a drink or two as they wished the mob boss Al Catpone a happy birthday.

True to his word, the ocelot named Bugsy had his associate keeping an eye on her and there was only one time that the large lion had to physically intervene when a pawsy badger, a low level street mobster, had tried to push himself upon her after first offering her money and then drunkenly attempted to force her into his embrace. As she pushed and struggled with the amorous male, Lucky intervened and the lion's large paws sent the smaller badger staggering as he growled a warning that Catpone frowned upon such treatment of a lady. The badger shrugged and moved on to find a more willing companion, after all there were more than enough call girls in the room who were more than happy to take his cash in exchange for their purchased affections.

Her attention turned towards the chubby fox, the musician was now passed out under the nearby piano with a couple of empty champagne bottles littered nearby. She had never before seen a fox drink so much and was impressed that despite his state of inebriation, Fatts was able to continue his act without missing a note. The rabbit doe knew that Nick was a fan of the old jazz and ragtime artists and smiled as she remembered his excitement at the fair when he had danced with the legendary Josephine Barker and although that was just a few days ago, it now seemed to her now that it had been years.

Resting her chin on her paw, she leaned against the nearby table and couldn't help but slightly smile as she recalled earlier in the night when Fatts had snatched her from serving drinks and plopped her down at the bench at the piano. "So Judy, you know any songs?" he jovially asked as he sipped his drink.

"I play a little piano. My grandmother was a fan of jazz and ragtime, she taught me a few songs," she giggled as she scooted herself over so her paws could reach the somewhat large piano. "Let's give this a try."

As she began to play a lively and energetic tune on the keys, the fox grinned and laughed before he joined in, "A boogie-woogie version of Suwanee River!" Fatts exclaimed. "I've never heard that played before!" Their laughter and music attracted a crowd near the piano and several of the listeners began to put tips for Judy into a glass that Lucky had put upon the piano. She looked at the pile of cash and realized that there was well over a year's worth of a working guys salary sitting before her, all just because she played a single song.

"Play another one!" someone laugherd and she turned to look up at Al Catpone, his arm was still around the white deer doe's waist, but she too was now smiling. Tossing a one hundred dollar bill onto the piano, he added, "Molly and I want to dance! Come on Toots, play us another song."

"Well there is only one other song I know," she said to the fox. "Do you know a tune called the Twelfth Street Rag?"

"Of course, it's a classic!" Fatts laughed as he waited for her begin to play the piano again before he joined in on the song. She watched as the paunchy jaguar began to dance with the doe and it seemed that Molly was enjoying herself. Sometime during the song, the two disappeared up the stairway.

Shaking herself from her reminiscence, she looked up the staircase towards one of the bedrooms above. Catpone had taken Molly up there earlier while she and Fatts were still playing the piano. They both were rather drunk and the white tail deer doe had almost tottered off the top stairs, only to have the jaguar snatch her hoof before she toppled. "I thought that Catpone frowned upon someone forcing himself upon one of the girls," she had commented to Lucky as she nodded towards the room that the couple had entered into.

"Molly?" the lion chuckled before he lit up a cigarette and took a deep puff. "The boss isn't forcing himself upon her, that dame knows what she is getting into tonight. For a little prey chasing and a tumble or two, she'll get a big break as a dancer at one of the boss's clubs. He'll get tired of her after a few days or so, he likes his girls to be fresh?"

"I get your point," Judy sighed as she nodded. "You mean she's a virgin."

"Not after tonight!" Lucky slurred out before he took another puff. "Hey! Hey ! Maybe you might agree to be his next conquest? He really likes bunnies and you've got all the right curves."

"I'm too…ah, experienced," Judy lied as she handed him an ashtray, so he wouldn't spill ashes upon the carpet.

"Too bad sweetheart," the lion hiccuped before he crushed his cigarette out into the ashtray and then dropped it all onto the carpet before he closed his eyes and settled into a booze induced slumber.

Still leaning against the table, she looked back over at the now slumbering lion and then at the two gangsters guarding the door, Lucky had fallen asleep almost an hour ago and the party quickly wound down so as not to disturb Catpone. She had tried to leave, but the guards at the door wouldn't let her, so she knew she had to wait and gave a small yawn as she too closed her eyes.

It seemed that she had just nodded off when suddenly there was a yell from the room above and she came awake with a start. Several of the gangster's bodyguards drew their guns as they rushed past her and up the stairs before quickly entering the room. Judy's ears shot up as she tried to listen what was going on, but she could only catch a muffled word or two from behind the closed door, "Molly…too much…get a doctor…"

Bugsy raced over to stand next to her and quickly drew his own pistol, as the blurred eyed and tipsy ocelot looked around in confusion. "What's happening?" he muttered. "Is something wrong?" An elderly black spotted leopard in a pajamas and a blue bathroom was clutching a medical bag in his paws, he rushed by them and up the stairs. From the look of his fur, the cat had been awoken from his sleep. "That's Doc!" the ocelot added with concern in his voice. "Something bad must have happened."

A few minutes later, the door opened again as the familiar paunchy jaguar now dressed a dark velvety evening robe stood briefly in the opening and looked around. He turned when someone said something to him from within the room. "I pay you to deal with things like this!" he snarled back to whoever was talking. "So just clean things up!" Slamming the door closed behind him, he glowered again at everyone in the room below him, but his face had a somewhat remorseful scowl. With a deep sigh, he forced a smile as he stepped onto the stairs and in a false jovial manner called out, "So boys what's for breakfast? I'm starved and I sure hope that someone is planning to make some fried eggs and smoked trout!"

"Sure boss!" Bugsy called back as he ran to the phone. "I'll wake the chef and tell him to get some food up here pronto!"

"Naw, tell him that I'm coming over to the restaurant to eat," the crime lord answered while he patted his robe pockets, as if he was trying to find something. Finally he smiled when he found a cigar and after putting it in his mouth waved Bugsy over to light it. He took a deep puff and blew the smelly smoke over his head. "Better, much better."

Judy began to move away towards the door, but her movement caught the cat's attention. "There you are Toots, go get me some coffee!" he ordered. As she turned to go into the bar, he added, "There's a bottle of aspirin next to the percolator, get me a couple of those pills too!"

The slumped over lion gave a snort and then a deep yawn as he stretched and opened his eyes. "Geeze, stop making so much damn racket, the sun ain't even up yet!" he growled and lifted a paw to his forehead as he winced.

"Am I disturbing your beauty sleep Lucky?" Catpone sarcastically chuckled as he kicked at the lion's stretched out legs. "You never could hold your booze."

"Aw come on boss!" the lion began to complain as he slowly stood up, trying to stifle yet another yawn.

The lion didn't finish what he was trying to say, because he was interrupted by the sounds of yelling and singing coming down the hallway. Something was going on in the hotel's lobby. "Repent!" a loud voice echoed from down the hall. "Repent from your godless ways!"

"Now what the hell is going on?" the jaguar snarled as he looked at one of his bodyguards. "That's Piberius! Joey, go find out what he's doing here and why that damn fox is making all that commotion!"

The muscular tiger turned and ran down the hall, a few minutes later he returned. "He said he came to free the bunny from this den of sin and **i** niquity," Joey answered as he looked at Judy. "The lobby is full of his followers, a bunch of old broads all singing and praying."

"Toss them out!" Catpone snapped.

"They've got the press with them too boss," the tiger warned.

"Then give him the damn bunny!" the jaguar answered as he waved his cigar at Judy. Then surprisingly he walked over to the piano and snatched up a pawful of the cash that was in the tip jar. While he shoved the money into her arms, he actually gave her a smile. "Here ya go Toots, I hope you had a swell time? Now scat before I change my mind!"

Judy looked back at him is disbelief as Lucky ushered her out of the room and down the hallway. They entered the lobby and it was packed with middle aged and elderly females from all kinds of species. They were singing and clapping to a hymn, while several amused gangsters watched and made fun of the group who had proudly called themselves the "Crusaders". In the center of the group was a somewhat animated red fox dressed in a black clerical robe with a loud booming voice, which he used to encourage them to sing even louder.

"Here's your damn rabbit!" the lion roared as he shoved Judy into a very elderly and ugly gazelle that was ironically holding a sign which read, "The Lips That Touch Liquor Will Never Touch Mine!" A matronly sow grabbed them before they both went sprawling onto the wooden floor.

As Judy had begun to fall, her pawful of cash spilled onto the ground and she saw the preacher quickly pick it up. "A contribution for the ministry, you cannot profit from such sinful money." he admonished her as he shoved it under his robe. Then straightening up, he shook his reddish orange paw over his head and cried out, "Repent from your evil ways and return to a righteous path. REPENT!"

With cheers, the Crusaders rushed the confused rabbit out onto the street. Judy's ears shot up when she heard someone yell "Piberius!" and she turned to see the preacher was now standing in front of Bugsy. "The boss ain't happy with you fox. You keep pushing him and he'll side with the mill owners and help them crush your unionization drive. We know them union guys are paying you to be their mouthpiece, so be careful or we'll let your followers known you're on the take!" the cat said in a low voice, which the rabbit could barely hear. The fox nodded and turned back to those waiting.

"What did he want?" the maternal looking sow asked.

"Oh, just another threat on my humble life," the fox lied in a virtuous manner. "My fate is not in a crime lord's paws, but those of the gods."

From the corner of her eye, Judy saw a familiar looking fox standing in a crowd of onlookers. "Nick!" she cried out as she raced over to hug the tod. Instead of greeting her, the fox just grunted from her frenzied impact. As her arms wrapped around his stomach, she realized that he wasn't dressed in a brown checkered suit and didn't hug her back. Pushing away from him, she stepped back in confusion. The fox looked exactly like Nick, both in his build and features. "Who are you?" she finally asked.

"Well, you must be the bunny who my self-proclaimed cousin Nick has fallen for?" the tod chuckled as he smiled down at her. "I'm Richard Wilde and it's a pleasure to meet you." Judy's ears shot up straight in shock when she realized she was standing next to Nick's great-grandfather.

"I'm sorry, but you look just like him," she apologized.

"I know and that part I haven't figured out yet," the fox replied with a smile.

"Judy!" a familiar voice cried out as Nick snatched her up in his arms and hugged her. "I was so worried that they had hurt you or worse!" She closed her eyes and pressed her cheeks into his chest, as she sighed in his tight embrace. When she finally opened them, she was astounded to see that there was standing not too far away, a very familiar appearing grey rabbit doe in a flowery dress.

Amethyst eyes locked onto amethyst eyes.

* * *

 **Judy played the Swanee River Boogie, which Albert Ammons made popular in the late 1930's. Fatts would have known the** " **Twelfth Street Rag** " **because it** **was published by Euday Bowman in 1914.**

 **"The Lips That Touch Liquor Will Never Touch Mine," was a Temperance song and a popular slogan.**

 **Al Capone had a minister who was a thorn in his side too! The Reverend Henry C. Hoover was called** **"The Raiding Pastor" and was a determined opponent. In 1925, he led his followers on an early morning raid of the** **Hawthorne Smoke Shop, a Capone-controlled gambling house in Cicero, and claimed later at Capone's trail to have confronted the pajama clad gangster that morning.  
**


	29. A New Partner

**Chapter 29: A New Partner**

* * *

" _ **I've lost all track of time,"**_ \- Dr. Anthony Newman in _The Time Tunnel_ , Episode 1

 **The last chapter with Jack was pretty heavy, so let's lighten things up a bit as the hare finds out that he is going to get a new partner.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

Jack carefully soaked under an almost scalding hot shower, talking care not to get the plastic wrapped plaster cast on his left arm wet. It was as if the still tired Jackrabbit was trying to wash away the memories of the nightmares he had as he slept. Since the death of Skye, he'd rarely had another peaceful night's sleep. His past haunted him, all those deaths he had caused in the pursuit of completing his investigations or missions. In his heart, the hare knew that Minos was right when the cat had told him that he was growing soft. During this investigation he had helped a raccoon suffering from a shock collar, even though he didn't have to save him to extract the information he wanted from the witness. What bothered him the most was that he had gone as far as to risk his own life to save Wilde from a senseless death at the paws of the gangster Mister Big and then allowed his partner to smuggle the fox out of the reach of the Agency instead of letting them kill him as was procedure.

"Boss, are you okay? It's well past noon." Minos called from outside of the bathroom. "I getting worried that I'm rubbing off on you and that you are starting to act like a cat. You know how we felines love our cat naps?"

"Are you stereotyping your own species again?" Jack laughed back as he turned off the water and shook himself before peeling off the wet plastic from around the cast. "You hardly sleep at all Minos and you're one of the few cats I've ever met who really likes the water."

"You are starting to miss too much of life my friend," the cat called back as he walked away towards the suite's kitchenette. "You must let the past go and look to the future. Besides, I have my share of nightmares, but I have a few sweet dreams too. Why just this morning, I dreamt of this sexy belly dancing sand cat I met near the pyramids of…"

"Would you shut up about your past affairs," the hare laughed as he wrapped the towel around his waist and walked into the hallway. "If you had slept with as many girls as you claim, you would have died from exhaustion years ago."

"No Jack, they are always ladies! Never with girls, only with ladies mature enough to appreciate my tomcattiness." Minos corrected him as he handed him a cup of strong black coffee.

"Tomcattiness isn't even a word," Jack scoffed before he sipped the coffee. "Let me get some clothes on and then we can figure out where to go next on this investigation."

"Ah about the investigation, it seems that I have been reassigned," the cat sighed and then he gave the hare a mischievous grin. "It seems that our friends at the Agency were toying with that friend of Bellwether's chemicals, they put Ricardo in charge of the operation."

"Ricardo? That slimy capybara messes up everything he gets his paws on," Jack chuckled as he leaned against the wall and cradled his coffee cup. "You're giving me that look, what happened?"

"It seems our klutzy oversized rodent agent accidentally dropped one of the pellets and Doctor Tusker stepped on it!" the cat snickered. "Who knew that a very large, well-educated elephant with a PhD in Chemistry could go savage?"

"Was there much damage to the lab?" Jack asked as he stood up straight with his ears erect with interest and a big grin on his muzzle. He walked past Minos towards other side of the hotel suite.

"You remember that fight you had with that bad guy Fernando?" the cat asked as he followed the rabbit into the kitchenette.

"You mean that bull in the china shop?" the hare answered as he set his cup down and poured himself a refill. "That was one hell of a mess!"

"Think of that, but ten times worse!" Minos laughed as he handed his coffee cup to Jack to refill. "Tusker smashed everything in sight, including Ricardo, before they finally subdued him."

"Ricardo is dead?" Jack asked with a look of concern.

"Oh no, he'll live! Penny said that after the guy gets out of the hospital, he's being reassigned to field work in the far Southern Region so he can't break anything else. She said it is the really far, far, far section of the region," Minos answered as he walked over to the desk, took a seat and opened his laptop. "I hope he can get along with seals, sea leopards, and orcas!"

"So are you taking Ricardo's job?" Jack asked as he sipped his coffee again.

"Heavens above no! Could you see me sitting on my duff at a desk?" Minos laughed. "No, they are sending me to negotiate with a few undesirable smugglers along the Old Sahara Coast."

Jack chuckled as he returned to his bedroom and began to dress. He pulled out a white dress shirt, a black tie and, of course, a nondescript black suit. With his broken arm, it was awkward for him to pull on a pair of white undershorts, but he finally managed to work his tail through the back hole and wiggled it free before he pulled on the suit's pants and struggled to do the same thing over again. With a grunt, he sat down and looked out the window at the broken city that was outside. He could see that smoke was still wafting from the ghettos of Happy Town, the aftermath of another riot. Finally he grabbed his white dress shirt and pushed his cast through the opening that Minos had made by cutting off the left sleeve. The hardest part of dressing was buttoning the shirt up, but he slowly managed. Then he frowned as he looked over at the tie and sighed when he realized that there was no possible way that he was going to be able put it on all by himself. Standing, he ackwardly pushed his dress shirt into his pants and slipped a belt on. It took a few moments as he fumbled to buckle the belt, taking great care as not to set off any of the gadgets which were concealed in the buckle.

He walked over to the dresser and selected his favorite watch, then realized that he couldn't fit it on his left arm. Instead he selected an older model which had an elastic band and carefully sipped it over his right wrist. He picked up his pistol's normal shoulder harness and huffed out a groan because he couldn't use it with the sling, instead he had to use the more cumbersome back holster and that required him to unbuckle his belt again.

Minos looked up from his laptop to see the hare standing there looking rather embarrassed. The normally debonair looking agent was a wreck, his shirt was half hanging out of his pants, his belt dragged behind him and he was holding a black tie and his gun in its holster in his one good paw. "Ahhh!" the cat tried not to snicker or grin at the sight of his disheveled looking partner. "I see you are having problems with getting dressed this morning, may I be of assistance?"

The hare finally nodded and the cat helped him first tuck is shirt into his pants correctly and then he attached the holster to the belt before buckling it onto Jack's waist. Finally, Minos wrapped the black tie around the jackrabbit's neck and with a few twists tied a wobbly looking knot. "It's harder to do that on someone else's neck, but you now look much more presentable," the cat chuckled as he stepped back and looked him over. "I do hope my replacement can help dress you too, you're going to need help until that arm heals and I'm afraid they don't teach new agents how to dress for success anymore at the Academy."

"Wait, you didn't say anything about a replacement!" the hare exclaimed in surprise. His ears shot up and his nose twitched. "I don't need a new partner."

"You're getting one anyways," Minos replied with a grin. "A newbie, who's is straight from the Academy to boot!"

"Great, they stuck me with a starry-eyed super spy wanabe!" the hare huffed as he pulled his sling over his neck and gently slipped his arm into the cloth cradle. "They know my track record with new…" A brisk knock on the suite's door interrupted his complaints.

"If that's your new partner, the agent is early!" Minos hissed as he drew his pistol and slowly moved towards the door. Jack also drew his gun and took aim at the doorway. It wouldn't be the first time that the mammal at a door wasn't who they were expecting and violence ensued. Minos flipped the door knob and pushed it open as he shoved his gun into the face of a fox standing there in a black suit.

Jack's ears drooped and he tried not to groan out loud when he saw that the new agent was a very young looking and petite vixen. The fox's fur was grey with rusty brown tones and her face was narrow and angular, with brown colored stripes on both sides of her muzzle. Her ears were larger than a grey fox's, but not as large as a fennec fox's. She stood just a few inches taller than Minos and her body, despite the black suit was definitely feminine. Although she looked like a teenager, he knew she was much older than she first appeared. Her green eyes looked up from the smart phone she held in her paw to focus on the barrel of the gun that was stuck in front of her face. The hare was surprised that she calmly first glanced at the pistol and then looked over towards the cat, while giving him a smirk. Jack lowered his own gun and holstered it behind his back as he gave a slight frown, because his new partner was a kit fox…the hereditary enemy of his own species.

"Keep your paws where I can see them," Minos growled as he reached his other paw under her jacket and removed a pistol from its shoulder holster.

The fox gave him an aggravated sigh. "Trying to cop a feel pervert?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.

Minos tried not to smile as he pocketed the gun and then reached under the other side of her jacket to remove her badge. He briefly looked it over, before he waved his gun to indicate that she should walk into the room.

"Can I put my paws down now or are you going to frisk me too?" the vixen asked in the same tone. "Maybe you want to strip search me Agent Topal Minos? I've heard about your reputation."

"First my dear, you're not my type because I prefer felines," the aegean cat briskly replied as he holstered his gun and tossed her the badge. "Second, I go by the name Minos. Why my mother named a dirt poor kittenTopal after an ancient grand vizier of a long gone empire, I'll never understand? Third, never stand in the center of any doorway. Always stand to one side in case whoever opens the door is not who you were expecting. That was a rookie mistake and you could have been killed, they should have taught you better at the Academy."

The fox slipped her badge back into her pocket and put her paw out for her gun. "Noted," she replied in a professional flat tone. "But I knew that it was only the two of you inside the room, so I wasn't in danger. I also observed you trying to help Agent Savage get dressed." She stepped down the hallway and up to the hare. Reaching out, she quickly grabbed his necktie and pulled it undone. "Hold still!" the vixen commanded as she twisted and flipped his tie, finally she stepped back to admire the perfect Windsor knot when she was finished. "Better! Dress for success 101."

"How?" Minos began to ask, but the fox ignored him as she leaned over and picked up several small tiny black balls off the room's floor, before she slipped them into the back of her phone.

"It's amazing what the mice in Q-Branch can make," she shrugged as she pocketed her phone. "I could hear and see everything going on inside of this room from outside on my phone." Turning back towards Jack, the vixen came to attention and continued. "Agent Savage, I'm not a starry-eyed super spy wanabe. My name is Agent Lisa Longears and I'm reporting for duty sir!"

The jackrabbit's large ears shot up erect again and he frowned at Minos when the cat softly snickered, "You don't have the longest ears in this room Agent Longears."

"Can it cat!" Jack snapped, so much for first impressions. "Get the Agency on the phone Minos. I want to know who had the bright idea of partnering me with a fox and after she is gone, you and I are going to have a conversation about why you didn't warn me!"

The vixen angrily crossed her arms as she stared at the hare. "From anyone else, I would take those comments as speciest," she said in the same flat professional tone she had used previously. "However, I know about you and what happened to your wife, but don't you even think I'm here to replace her. I may be a vixen, but I'm now your new partner and very capable. I am the first kit fox who has made it through training and I was top in my class. I had to work hard to get the respect of my fellow cadets, who turned up their noses at me because I was a fox and despite being twenty-four, looking like I was still in high school. So if you got a problem with me being here Agent Savage…well, then just get over it!"

"Minos!" Savage yelled in anger as he looked over at the cat.

"Sorry boss, her assignment comes from above and I've already been told it isn't going to change," the cat replied with a shrug. It was quite evident to both the hare and the fox that he was trying not to grin. "You're stuck with her and so she's right, you just need to get over it."


	30. A Sinister Plot

**Chapter 30: A Sinister Plot**

* * *

" _ **Suddenly it's too late  
Time has come and can't wait  
There's no more time."**_ **-** from the Kinks, Time Song.

 **Happy Bootlegger's Day! Today is also Al Capone's Birthday, so I have a short chapter to celebrate. It's confession time too, my great-grandfather on my momma's side lived in Cicero, IL and swore that Al Capone was a great guy. The ruthless gangster knew how to win over the hearts and minds of the working poor through his charitable actions, he was seen as both a antihero and a villain.**

 **In this chapter, Al Catpone plots his final and complete takeover of Happy Town.**

* * *

 **1925**

The portly gangster stared with distaste at his plate of fried fish and eggs, which the hotel's chief had hastily prepared after being summoned to his kitchen. The dining room at the Buckthorne Inn was paneled in a luxurious well-polished oak wood, but their grander was still shadowed by the lingering darkness of the new day's predawn. Al Catpone frowned as he leaned back and puffed on his cigar while a nervous looking young ibex buck in a waiter's uniform approached with a silver carafe and carefully poured some hot coffee into his half empty blue and pink china cup. "Don't act so nervous son," the jaguar forced out a chuckle.

The cat's attention was drawn back towards the noise outdoors, the sounds of the town's police finally hurrying the crowd off on the street. He took another sip of the dark rich coffee and sighed, the morning had been a disaster so far. In this earlier drunken and aroused frenzy, he had bitten too hard on Molly's throat and the blood…damn it, her blood was everywhere... poor Molly, he really liked her.

"Boss?" someone called out from the doorway of the empty dining room. He looked up to see Lucky standing there. The large lion had quickly shaken off the effects of his earlier inebriation already and was watching him with interest. "They say they saw Clawhauser outdoors earlier, but he gave them the slip. You know once a cheetah hits a sprint, no one can catch one even in a car."

"Clawhauser!" the mobster spit out the name. "He cost me a pretty penny when he stumbled across our little plot to bribe that union guy McClunney. Those damn union reps are turning into a pain in my tail, at least the one's we haven't bought off yet, and then there's that fricken preacher Piberius."

"I could get some of the boys and rough the fox up a bit before he goes on the air tonight," the lion suggested as he snapped his paw and pointed for the waiter to bring him a coffee. "Put the real fear of the gods into him some."

"Yeah, you do that!" the jaguar said in an almost absentmindedly manner was he waved his paw to dismiss the lion.

Lucky looked around and seeing the waiter was still pouring the coffee he frowned as he waited.

"I said go!" Catpone snarled out as he looked up from his plate. "And send my brother Frankie in here!"

The portly cat picked up his cigar and took another drag from it before putting it out in his uneaten eggs. Al and his brother Frank were brought into Zootopia from New Gnu by Big Johnnie T to help "settle" disputes between the various city gangs. Then after Big Johnnie was shot several times, but not killed, he chose to retire and Al stepped into the leadership role of what he liked to call "The Outfit". His organization's network of speakeasies, brothels, gambling establishments and other criminal enterprises was vast and reached out far from the city itself, like tentacles of crime which ran as far as the distant northern border. Things were going well and very profitable in the city until the citizens barely elected a new mayor, a tall lanky red deer buck named William Deervers. The new mayor launched an ineffective, but very loud, political crackdown on crime and the mob which the newspapers dubbed "The Great Beer War." With the mob's "arrangements", which were made with the previous mayor at jeopardy, the gangster packed his headquarters up and moved it lock stock and barrel to nearby Happy Town. This allowed the mayor to claim a financially expensive Pyrrhic victory for the city, although the buck's efforts had achieved very little practical damage to the mob's businesses in Zootopia. Here in Happy Town, the local politicians and leading citizens quickly succumbed to the gangster's bribes or his brother Frankie's threats.

Happy Town still wasn't all his and he knew it, there were the local street gangs entrenched in the heavily predatory tenements and neighborhoods just off of Main Street. Groups like the mostly canid Snapper's Gang and the feline Blood and Claw Gang. These were all small time operations, but they bit into his larger control of the town and were a continuous thorn in his side.

"Yo Al," a muscular tawny furred jaguar with brown spots called out as he entered the room. The newcomer was dressed in a blue three piece suit, the bulge of his pistol was visible under the jacket. "All that damn noise on the street, you'd think they repelled Prohibition or something."

"It was that nuisance preacher and his broads, they were causing a scene again," Al answered as he waved to the waiter to bring his brother a cup of coffee. "Sit down Frankie, I think we need to discuss an idea on how I can get back at that preacher, those union guys, and the local gangs all in one fell swoop."

The waiter sat a cup of coffee before the jaguar and refilled the other cup. "Take a hike kid," the paunchy jaguar snarled. Then the cat reached into his pocket and pulled out a fifty dollar bill as with a false smile he added, "Go buy your mommy something nice and tell Lucky that no one comes in here until I tell him."

They both watched the waiter leave the room and close the door behind him. "So what's this brilliant plan?" Frankie asked before he sipped his coffee.

"We let the union guys start their thing," Al chuckled as he leaned back and grinned. "Let them start their organizing efforts at the mills."

"You gonna just hand the mills over to them?" the younger jaguar asked as he looked down in disgust at the plate with the cigar stuck in it.

"Yep, because we both know the mill owners ain't going to go for that," Al laughed. "They'll bring in their guys to break the strike, along with the cops. Things will turn ugly and then our boys will fan up a riot that'll sweep across the tracks into the street gang controlled side of town, we'll burn them out."

"That's ugly Al, just plain ugly," Frankie complained. "They'll also get some of our worker's homes and maybe our stuff, how do we protect them?"

"We can't, but afterwards…that's when we move in to help. We'll be just like angels sent from heaven above, swooping in to help everyone rebuild their poor pathetic lives!" Al laughed as he slapped his paw on the table with glee. "Everyone will love us then, I'll be like that fox in the old stories…Robin Hood! Yeah, just like a fricken Robin Hood! Take from the rich folks and given it to the poor. When we get done, we'll own the town, the police, the unions, the mills, the railroad yards, everything!"

"It just might work?" Frankie pondered as he rubbed his paw along his chin. "Besides, this town is a real dump and some fire might improve it."

"So let's get up a hit list up of those who will get theirs during the riot," Al added. "McClunney, Clawhauser, and those pesky Wilde brothers..."

"Piberius?" Frankie asked as he lit a cigarette and blew a smoke ring above his head.

With a slash of his claw, the portly jaguar tore the circle of smoke apart. "Piberius!" he snarled. "Yes, that damn preacher for sure."

The two gangsters clinked their coffee cups together in celebration.

* * *

 **Alphonse Gabriel Capone a/k/a Big Al a/k/a Scarface was this nation's most famous gangster. He was born in New York City to Sicilian immigrants and for several years was the leader of the powerful "Chicago Outfit", his violent meteoric career brought him to power at 26 years old. He was not arrested for his illegal activities or for his ordering the murder of his rivals, but for tax evasion. He would die after years in jail of** **neurosyphilis** **, which had progressively eroded his mental faculties to that of a young child.**

 **Al Capone's brother Frank followed him during his rise to power, but Frank was killed in 1924 in a melee with plainclothes Chicago Police sent into Cicero at the request of a** **Cook County judge** **and that county's sheriff to quell the political violence which Capone had stirred up in an effort to get his candidate elected mayor. I chose in my story to let Al Catpone's brother Frankie survive.**

 **Oddly enough one of Capone's other brothers, Vincenzo Capone, changed his name to Richard James Hart and moved to Homer, Nebraska to get away from his brothers. One of his careers included, of all things, being a** **Prohibition Agent** **.**

 **There is much more about the infamous gangster, his family, and the "Chicago Outfit", but this still a story about a fox and a bunny.**


	31. Separated

**Chapter 31: Separated**

* * *

 ** _"Yeah, about that. One of the time machines is broken and the other one was stolen by a guy in a bowler hat, which kind of explains the dino."_** \- Wilbur in Meet the Robinsons. 

**Judy and Miss Judy come face to face, but the night's events overtake their reunion. Tommy Clawhauser enters our story.**

* * *

 **1925**

"My god, it's almost like looking into a mirror!" the grey bunny exclaimed as she pushed herself from the red fox's arms and tried to work her way through a milling crowd of onlookers towards the rabbit doe wearing the flowery dress. Both rabbits had their ears erect and noses twitching as they gawked at each other in surprise.

Nick couldn't help but give Judy an amused look as she stared at the other grey furred bunny. "Carrots, I think you two need to talk, but not around here," he said as he leaned over and whispered into her ear, so that others in the crowd could not hear what he told her. "Believe it or not, she is you from another future. Come on we need to go someplace private to have this conversation, because there are way too many ears listening around here. "

The sounds of the approaching police sirens could be heard, drawing the attention of the growing crowd on the street and sidewalks. The early morning street was full and most were watching the charismatic red fox in the black ecclesiastical robe as he encouraged his ragtag group of middle aged and elderly female followers to loudly sing a hymn about temperance as they marched down the street toward a distant church. A large group of prostitutes, night workers, and inebriated party goers laughed and responded with their own bawdy drinking song in response.

Judy struggled to make her way towards the other rabbit, but she had to leap back when three large swaying drunken elephants staggered between them. "Carrots, we have to go!" the fox called out in panic as he looked at the approaching bright red lights. "It's the police!"

"Good, I want to file charges against Al Catpone and his goons for kitnapping me!" the rabbit doe snapped back as she vainly searched the crowd for the whereabouts of other bunny, she had lost sight of her in the all the chaos. "Besides Nick, I think something bad happened to a pretty white tailed deer doe named Molly and they need to investigate. "

"Forget It!" she thought she heard Nick growl. "Let's get out of here, the cops in this town all belong to Catpone and the only one they will arrest is you cottontail!" She glanced over in anger as a reddish orange fox's paw firmly gripped her arm and began to drag her away.

"Stop it Nick!" she protested to the fox, only to finally realize that it wasn't Nick pulling at her , but his great-grandfather Richard Wilde. Nick stood to one side and watched with wide eyes.

Both the fox and rabbit jumped when there was the blaring of a horn as a huge delivery large truck driven by a rhino tried to drive though the dissipating crowd. Its chain drive loudly rattled, making it hard for anyone to hear.

"But!" she protested as now both of the foxes grabbed her by the arms and despite her struggling, lifted her off the ground as they ran. "Put me down!"

"I will when we finally get off these damn streets and away from the coppers!" Richard snapped back. "We need to get to someplace safe and I know just the place."

* * *

Miss Judy was shocked when she saw the other bunny in the black sequenced dress, because the doe did look exactly like her! Stepping forward, she stretched out her paw towards her other self, only to jump aside just as a huge elephant staggered into her way.

"Watch out!" Rubin yelled as he grabbed her paw again. The crowd engulfed them and they frantically weaved back and forth trying to keep from being crushed.

"I got to get back to Nick!" she called out in a distraught tone. "We can't lose Nick!"

The sirens were drawing closer and Zachariah looked first at the police cars and then the straw purse the doe was clutching, the purse contained the stolen police gun. "Miss Judy we gotta run for it fer the coppers catch ya!" he yelled. "We gotta go now!"

"No, I can't lose them!" the rabbit doe protested. A horn blared as a huge truck almost hit her and only Rubin's desperate yank on her arm saved her from being squished by the huge tires.

The red fox looked in panic as the police cars were almost upon them and the crowd began running and stumbling off the street. "Hell girl!" the fox cursed as he grabbed at the rabbit's arm, she struggled as he tightened his grip. Leaning over, he swung her over his shoulder and began to run towards a dark alleyway as she kicked, sceamed, and hit him. "Yer wanted by the coppers, its time ta skedaddle."

"Stop!" a police officer yelled as a police car squealed to a halt and the officers jumped out of the vehicle. The fox kept frantically running, weaving down alleys and streets until they seemed to have lost their pursuers. He was heavily panting when he stopped running, his long tongue hanging out of the side of his muzzle. With a grunt, he sat Miss Judy down and winced at the angry stare she now gave him.

"We've lost them!" she cried out in anger as she stamped her foot.

"That thar was the idea," the fox panted out, not understanding that she wasn't referring to the police. He yelped in surprise when she punched him in the arm. "What was that fer?"

"We lost Nick and the other Judy!" she cried out in frustration. "We've got to find them again."

"MISS JUDY!" Rubin huffed out, he too was panting from all the running. "We can find them again, I'm sure they went back to that billiards hall or someplace safe. The doe's ears had drooped, but she didn't protest as he hugged her and she began to cry tears of frustration.

"It's getting ta be dawn," the fox panted out as he leaned over and put his paws on his knees. "But first ya'll reckon we can rest a tad afore we go a lookin?"

Miss Judy pushed herself free of the buck's embrace and walked over to the fox. Gently she wrapped her arms around his waist as she hugged him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you," she sniffled. "It's just …just so…"

"I reckon I understand, I dun panicked a bit back thar," Zachariah replied as he hugged her back. "I dun tolt Zek I'd watch both of yer backs."

"You did the right thing," Rubin said as he put his paw on his friend's arm while he looked around. There was a fast flowing river in front of them. "So do either of you two have any idea where we are?"

"I have no idea, but I sur hope that thar's a café round abouts," the fox sighed. "I ain't had nutin to eat all day and I shore am starving."

Rubin didn't answer, but his stomach growled in reply.

Miss Judy wiped her eyes before she took the buck's paw and looked eastward toward the rising sun. "We all could use something to eat and maybe a nap before we go looking for Nick and Judy. "It's a new day, I think if we follow the river, it should lead us to the railroad track bridge and we can follow those to the tram platform. From there, we should be able to find the shop where we left Ezekiel and our little tag along kitten."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Rubin said with a shrug. "But can we eat first?"

* * *

A thin figure in a tan trench coat and dark brown fedora felt hat slipped away from the crowd outside of the Buckthorne Inn and stuck to the shadows as he made his way towards the back of the hotel. The bodyguards who had been patrolling outside of the building, now had their attention drawn away by all the shouting, laughing and singing from the streets in front of the hotel and so the cat silently slipped past them. Finding a spot amongst the garbage cans, he squatted down and reached into his coat pocket to pull out a small black case. He opened the bellows portion of the small Klondike camera and adjusted the lens to focus on the hotel's backdoor. It was still too dark for him to get any good pictures, but he knew he had to try. After just a few moments, a thin tiger opened the back door to the hotel and glanced around before another a much larger tiger appeared carrying a rolled up oriental rug.

"The car's this way, Moocie!" the smaller tiger quietly called out as he pointed towards a black Packherd touring car. "Dump her in the back and let's get going while it's clear, I want to get to the old river bridge before sunrise."

Pushing his hat back from over his forehead, Tommy Clawhauser frowned as he took pictures from his hiding place while the two goons dumped the rug into the back of the car and drove off.

"It's Clawhauser!" he heard someone suddenly yell and he turned to see two large cats drawing their pistols as they ran towards him from the side of the building. He didn't hesitate as he sprinted from his hiding place and down the back street, the fast cheetah quickly left his pursuers behind as he weaved into the crowed street.

He heavy panted as he stepped behind a looming old wooden tenement building with its greying clapboard siding and squinted in the dim light as he slipped his pocket watch from his coat pocket and checked the time. He could afford to purchase a handier wrist watch, but the gold plated pocket watch was a special gift given to him by his wife Elizabeth, or Liz as he called her, for their wedding anniversary. "Liz what have I gotten myself into this time?" he whispered as he looked down the street.

The old bridge was about a mile away, down in the abandoned industrial section of the town and there were street rumors that the area was a popular place for the gangsters to dispose of anything or anyone that they didn't want to be found. He knew that whoever was in that carpet, would be weighed down with rubble and tossed into the river by the time he arrived.

His ears twitched when he heard the telltale sound of an old Furred car rumbling down the dirt street and he peeked around the building's corner to see that it belonged to a neighbor of his. The fat cougar named Jerry always drove to the station to catch the early morning tram to the city, where he worked at a small furniture store's warehouse. The cheetah stepped onto the street in front of the oncoming car and the detective waved his paws. "Clawhauser, what are you doing around here this time of the morning?" the cougar called out as he came to a stop. "Have you been spying on someone's cheating wife again?"

"No Jerry, but I need you to give me a lift towards the old warehouses along the river," the thin cat replied as he plopped himself in the passenger seat. "It's important that I get there quick."

The cougar was silent for several moments as he drove down the rutted street. "They were watching your place again," his neighbor finally said.

"Catpone's goons?" he cheetah asked, as he stared out the car's window.

"Yep, but Quincy is watched them," Jerry answered. "Before they get to your family, they'll have to take on that big wolf first."

"Thank the gods that they haven't been doing anything but watching," Tommy sighed. "Look, please don't tell Liz about them or that you've seen me. I don't want to endanger her or the kittens."

"Okay, but I get to see any racy photos you've taken," the other cat chuckled as he wheeled the car down another dirt road. Then noticing the grim look on the detective's face, he was quiet for the remainder of the brief drive.

Tommy had his friend drop him off at the end of the street, near the old bridge and began to prowl through the undergrowth as he stalked closer to where the two tigers were parked. He winced as he could see in the light of the false dawn that they had unrolled the carpet and were now standing over the body of a bloodied naked white tailed doe. "Geeze, the boss never did this before!" the thin tiger commented as he stared in disgust at the dead body. "He lost control and bit too hard in the wrong spot. Looks like he got her in the damn jugular vein and she bleed to death before the doc could get there. It ain't like him to do that, it musta have been the booze."

"Poor thing," the larger tiger grunted as he picked up some rubble and tossed it onto the body. "I kinda liked her too, because she had a good sense of humor. But as they say, ashes to ashes or in this case fur to the fishes! Let's get some stones to weigh her down and then we'll wrap her up again and tie everything good and tight before she takes a final swim."

Neither of the tigers saw, smelled, or heard the cheetah lurking downwind in the tall grass as he took pictures while they worked to dispose of the tragic remains of the late Molly Greenhoofs of Deerbrook County.

* * *

 **Tommy's camera is based on the popular and highly portable Vest Pocket Kodak Autographic Special. This popular camera had been in the market since 1912.**


	32. Don't Worry Agent Savage!

**Chapter 32: Don't Worry Agent Savage!**

* * *

" _ **And never forget," Michael said, "Time travelers never die. No matter what you saw up ahead, about me, I'll always be here."**_ – Michael Shelborne in Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt

 **Agent Lisa Longears proves her worth with the investigation's research, much to Jack's surprise.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

Jack frowned as he watched Minos drive away in the DB 10, the suave aegean cat roared down the street in the slick black sports sedan towards the distant airport. Behind him, the hare could hear the fox kit vixen unpacking her things in the cat's former bedroom. She was softly humming a tune, which he realized was one of the former pop star Gazelle's last songs called "Try Everything". He turned his attention back to the two large satchels which were left on the suite's table. "What's in these?" he called out to her.

"If you value your life, don't mess with either of those bags until I get in there!" she called back in a somewhat stern voice. Although, as she had said earlier that she might appear to look like she was in her late teens to someone who didn't know about kit foxes, Lisa's voice was definitely older and more confident. It was obvious that she was not going to be that starry-eyed junior agent who was going to just follow the jackrabbit around seeking his approval.

"What do you mean by that?" the hare asked as he peered closer at one of the bag's locks, expecting to find one of Q-Branch's unpleasant security devises. "Will they explode or something?"

"No!" she replied and he turned towards her when he realized that she was at the bedroom's doorway as she watched him with an amused look upon her face. She had removed her black jacket, but was still dressed in a white blouse and black slacks. Without the pantsuit jacket, he could see her very feminine curves and he quickly glanced away when realized that she was rather sexy, in a cute foxy way. His ears twitched when he heard the underlying humor in her voice when she added, "But you might not like ADOLF's sting."

"Who or what is Adolf?" Jack asked as he stood straight and then scratched is upper left arm where the cast stopped.

"ADOLF, as in Advanced Defense Operational Little Friend," she answered as she walked over and leaned forward to gently tap the top of one of the bags. There was something stirring inside and the sound of scraping.

"ADOLF...Advanced Defense Operational Little Friend...Little Friend?" the jackrabbit couldn't help but snicker. "Who came up with that lame acronym?"

"Okay, so I'm still working on a name," she said, as she tried to hide a slight embarrassed blush and then smiled when something that looked like a black metallic spider crawled up the bag and into her paw. "I made this at the Academy when I was bored, isn't he cute?"

"I'm supposed to be scared of a mechanical daddy longlegs?" Jack scoffed as he watched the robot in her paw. "What can that little toy do and why should be worried about it's…ah, sting?"

"ADOLF's little legs have needles filled with a neurotoxin that will paralyze you for hours. A mammal your size would take two strikes to become incapacitated. It can also spit an acid that will burn through metal," she replied as she held the robot closer to the hare. Suddenly one of the robot's legs shot out and pierced Jack's paw.

"Ow! What the hell?" the jackrabbit cried out as he jumped back and began to draw his gun. He hesitated because the vixen hadn't moved and Adolf was still resting in her paw. Flexing his own paw, he gave her a rather condensing look. "Well, it looks like your little toy didn't work, I'm not paralyzed."

"That's because he didn't inject you with anything," Lisa laughed. "He drew your blood, so that he has a biometric imprint of you. You will now be safe around him, he has identified you as not being hostile to me."

"That might change if you let that thing keep sticking me," Jack muttered as he looked down at the small drop of blood on his paw. "Enough of this goofing around, we have an investigation to finish."

"An investigation that seems to be going nowhere," the vixen sighed as she unpacked a lap top from one of the bags and set it onto the table. She dug around for a moment and pulled out another device which she laid out on the table next to the computer and looked up at the hare. "When was the last time you scanned this place for bugs?" she asked as she turned the small machine on and began frowning.

"Minos just ran a check this morning," Jack replied as he watched with curiosity as she pressed a red button. "There are no listening devices of any sort in this room."

"There, now we are all clean!" she triumphantly called back. "You were wrong, because there were six active devises still operational and these have been neutralized. I going to have to get with Q and have him issue you some new toys which will work in this century!"

"Three of those devises were on my jackets," the hare snapped as he gave the fox an exasperated look. "It was part of our department's standard issue gear. The others were probably on your jackets, so you just fried our own equipment."

"Opps! Sorry about that," Lisa nonchalantly replied as she shrugged her shoulders, before she sat down and scooted her chair closer to the table. Then she reached for her laptop and turned it on. Moments later, she keyed into her machine and pulled up the agent's filed situation reports. "Witnesses didn't see anything…witness didn't see anything…no residue…you beat up a couple of cops…you tore up a car…you blew up another car…killed a gangster and started a gang war. I guess that pretty well sums up your entire investigation so far. But hey, at least you caught Bellwether and brought down her whole chemical terrorism scheme. Oh wait, that was all thanks to FoxCon! "

"I haven't been working this assignment very long," Jack sullenly sighed. "I was thinking that maybe we need to go search Nick Wilde's attorney's office for anything else the fox might have left behind with them before he died. Our investigation into the disappearance of Officer Judy Hopps has not led to anything. We can catch a military jet…"

"So if Nick Wilde had the watch sent to Officer Hopps years after his death, with orders that it get delivered at a specific time and with a note to tell her to stop them…" the vixen mused out loud, as if she was ignoring what he had said. "This is the same Nick Wilde who was accused by the ZPD in 1925 for killing a rabbit also named Judy Hopps…hey, are we looking at a time loop?"

"We aren't looking for anything but a watch that supposedly started this whole investigation based on a letter from a dead fox!" Jack snapped. "I still think…"

"A fox sends a watch he had as an old mammal to a rabbit at the ZPD, she goes back in time and then he kills her…that doesn't make sense?" Lisa continued as she tapped her claws against the table. "Why would he do that? Also he claimed the watch sent him back in time too…but we have no record of his existence until the police report in 1925? Why didn't he just use the watch to stop himself? Maybe you can't be in the time period as yourself?" Or maybe…maybe he isn't the one who can use the watch, but got caught up himself?"

Jack just sighed again and walked into the kitchen as he shook his head. He dug around in the refrigerator as he listened to the vixen talking to herself. He pushed aside several bottles of fish oil and found a bottle of kale drink. "You want something? I'm hungry, I didn't have breakfast or lunch." he called out to her, but she just continued to ignore him. He could hear the sound of claws hitting the keyboard as she entered something into the laptop.

"1925…1925…books online about famous Zootopian's in 1925, then we do a search for any rabbit named Judy…Judy Hopps…Nick Wilde in the books. Come on baby, there can't be too many…" she fussed at the laptop as she stared at the screen. "Bingo, we have a biography about the Reverend Samuel Piberius. Look, there's a chapter of how he confronted Al Catpone himself in Happy Town and freed a rabbit named Judy who had been kitnapped! It figures that one of the greatest foxes in modern history would save a rabbit from a gangster!"

"So the rabbit was named Judy?" the hare scoffed. "Why do you think it was our missing police officer? There are plenty of rabbits named Judy. "

"Because there is another article about a popular jazz musician named Fatts Wilye, which says he was kitnapped to play at Al Catpone's birthday party in 1925. He mentions playing the piano along with a rabbit by the name of Judy, who he met earlier at the World's Fair. She was traveling with a red fox by the name of NICK! There you go, Judy and Nick! Come on sweetheart give me more!"

"You got all that information how?" the hare asked as he peeked over her shoulder, he realized his nose was twitching with curiosity as he watched.

"The New Ganu library has digitized much of their entire collection, I hacked their database," she actually now almost purred in her excitement as if she was a feline. "Here's a paragraph from an autobiography by the famous entertainer Josephine Barker and she writes that she took the advice of a red fox named Nick she met at the fair to travel overseas. She also writes that this Nick was beaten up by the cops because they were looking for his girlfriend, a rabbit doe named Judy!"

Jack sat down in a neighboring chair. The jackrabbit was impressed that the vixen had found this much in just a few minutes. "That confirms that a fox named Nick was traveling with a rabbit doe named Judy in both Zootopia and Happy Town in about the same time frame," he muttered. "Outside of the warrant for Wilde's arrest, which was never served, all we got is his statement taken much later on that he did not kill Judy Hopps and she was killed instead by associates of Al Catpone."

"If the police in Zootopia were involved with the rabbit's death, then why is there no record of her being interred in any of the local cemeteries?" Lisa muttered to herself again, Jack watched as her tail slowly swept back and forth behind her as he concentrated. "Fatts Wily's story has both Nick and Judy in the city and then afterwards in Happy Town. So… so, then maybe she is buried in one of that old town's cemeteries?" the fox sat back and frowned after a few minutes of frantically searching online. "None of the town's records are online anywhere? That's ridiculous, what happened to the town's records?" she groaned.

"Since the town failed in the late sixties, their records would have to be stored someplace after the city took over," Jack sighed as he sipped his drink. "The old town hall is now gone, so my guess is that they are in the archives at the old town library."

"Then we will have to go to the library!" the vixen cheerfully called out as she stood up and looked for her jacket. "It's time for a field trip, so I hope you have a library card!"

"Agent Longears!" Jack almost growled as he stood up and frowned at the fox. "This isn't any damn fun filled high school field trip, there have been some protests which have degraded into violent riots throughout that neighborhood and that means it's going to be dangerous. Some predator gangs clashed with the cops and the military last night, so we need to be careful."

"I fully understand Agent Savage," she calmly replied. "But the key words are predators and the police. So right now I think I'm might be in less danger from the former than the latter."

Jack shot her an aggravated look, before calming down. "So agent, just what kind of car did Q-Branch send with you?" he asked as he gingerly pulled on his black suit jacket.

"They didn't give me a car," the vixen answered as she adjusted her gun harness before she helped him pull black jacket over his injured shoulder.

"I know that neither the taxis nor Zuber are in service, so just how did you get here?" Jack sighed with agitation at the fox's evasiveness. He knew from personal experience how difficult it was to sometimes get a straight answer from a vixen. There was some legitimate truth that foxes were playfully sly. "The airport is too far to walk, did you have a police car or the military drive you over here?"

"No, I drove," she simply answered as she packed her laptop away. With its spidery legs, ADOLF crawled along the table and into the satchel next to the computer. Glancing over at the frustrated look that hare now gave her, she added. "I do have a motorcycle."

"Wait, you came on a motorcycle?" the rabbit groaned. "Q-Branch doesn't issue motorcycles."

"It's my own chopper," she answered with a smirk. "But don't worry Agent Savage, it has a sidecar."


	33. Untouchables

**Chapter 33: Untouchables**

* * *

 **" _I have a suspicion history will be a little more difficult to beat t_** ** _han you can imagine Mr. Lasky."_** \- Commander Richard Owens in The Final Countdown.

 **Tommy Clawhauser reflects on his next step and who he might find as an alley against the powerful Al Catpone. Nick and Judy met Nick's great-grandmother, who does not take a liking towards our brave heroine.**

* * *

 **1925**

Downriver, Tommy Clawhauser stretched as he sat in the morning sun toying with his small portable camera. His tan trench coat was wadded up and tossed into the grass besides him next to his dark brown fedora hat. The thin cheetah knew that he needed to get the photo's inside the camera developed, but was pondering how he would get that done without getting caught by Catpone's guys. He couldn't go back to his office or even his home to develop the photos, they were both being watched. The private detective was already in trouble with the gangster for having revealed the pudgy jaguar's plan to bribe a union boss. Unfortunately there wasn't enough evidence for the county sheriff to move directly against the mobster, but he had gotten his client proof of the association between the union and organized crime. This was enough for the cheetah to be added to Catpone's infamous and dreaded black list.

The detective's current client was a country farm family whose pretty young daughter named Molly Greenhoofs had run off the big city with dreams of becoming a famous dancer. He found her alright, but she was in the clutches of the nation's most infamous mobster. Her trail had led him from the streets of Zootopia back to his home town of Happy Town and the dreaded fortress like Buckthorne Inn. Sadly, he was too late to save her and sometime during the previous night, Catpone had killed the pretty doe.

He had heard rumors that Catpone was into prey stalking, the twisted perverted primal hunting down and physical assault of a prey animal by a predator. As long as the act was consensual between the parties involved, it was only extremely socially frowned upon but not considered illegal. The problem was that sometimes in the excitement of the chase and catching, accidents happened to the detriment of the poor prey partner. It seemed that Molly was either purposely or accidentally a victim and it had cost her life.

Tapping his camera with a claw, he pondered his next move as he watched the morning fishermammals as they heaved their daily catch into several long grey wooden longboats. The otters rose and dove, periodically returning with a fish for their buckets, a scene that had been going on since time immoral. His ears twitched as he heard the splashing and triumphant calls as they celebrated a successful catch. Along the shoreline another otter swam through a lovingly cared for field of cattails. The plant's succulent roots were often sautéed or boiled and used in salads, while the cigar shaped brown seed heads were full of soft white fluff that was a less expensive alternative to down for use as installation in coats and pillows.

A flock of ducks quacked as they flew down the river before landing near the shoreline, but the cat's ears flattened in sadness because this scene of peaceful domesticity was only a few miles from where Molly's waterlogged body had been immersed in the fast flowing river. With a groan he stood and slipped his camera back into his pocket as he picked up his jacket and began his trek downriver towards the rail yard. He realized that he needed to leave town with this evidence and he knew that his only hope lay with a young Federal Treasury Agent by the name of Elliot Nest. The squirrel had made a name for himself by coordinating with the mayor of Zootopia in cracking down on illegal breweries during what the press dubbed as "The Great Beer War". The fact that the agent had arrested a popular city alderman for attempting to bribe him, was one of the primary reasons that Catpone had left the city and moved his base of operations to the safety of the corrupt town that lay before him.

With a longing glace at the buildings along the river and then towards the distant section of town where he and his family had their home, the cat slipped his hat on and let out a long sigh.

* * *

It took Nick just a few minutes to figure out where they were after they had weaved down the backstreets away from the hotel and finally into a quiet residential neighborhood, which was much better cared for then the ones they had fled through. A series of brownstone row houses lined the streets, each with a neat little garden along the sidewalk. There was no trash on the street here or drunken bums lying around in this neighborhood. The red fox hesitated as they entered the street, because it was familiar…too familiar. Before him was the tall spire of Saint Mark's Church, the very church where he had tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts when he was child.

"Come on Nick!" Richard called out as he waved to him from in front of a gate by one of brownstones just as the morning sun's rays illuminated the fox and it made him look like a he was some kind of saintly apparition. Nick couldn't help but tear up at the sight of his great-grandfather waving to him from in front of his grandfather's childhood home. He recalled his grandfather pointing it out to him, telling him it was once his family's before his great-grandfather died and the bills forced them to sell it, along with most of their possessions, and move into a seedy apartment. His family was the first foxes to own their own home in the town, although sadly it was only briefly. The buildings he remembered in his youth had become old and decrepit, some even abandoned to the homeless and street gangs, but they had never looking this grand.

He was slightly startled by Judy pulling at his arm. "Are you okay?" she asked as she looked up at him in concern.

"Just memories Fluff," he sighed as he followed her down the sidewalk. "Just some old memories."

They followed the other fox through the gates and up the stone steps to the doorway. "This is my place," the tod proudly said to them with a grin. "It took me years of working two jobs to earn the money to buy this at auction, but it now belongs to my family!" With the jingling of keys, he unlocked the front door and pushed it open as he stepped inside and called out, "Hi honey, I'm home!"

Nick could see inside that a shapely vixen in a white and grey waitress uniform stepped into the hallway, her eyebrows arched slightly in surprise when she caught sight of him and then quickly narrowed when she saw Judy. She had a kitchen towel and was drying her paws as she stood in the hallway, not moving anymore. "My goodness, I wasn't expecting company again Richard!" she softly exclaimed as she gave her husband a thin smile.

Standing before Nick was his great-grandmother Nancy Wilde, the one time matriarch of the family. She had passed away long before Nick was born, but he remembered the stories which his grandfather told him. This was the vixen, who after her husband was killed in the riot, became a force to be reckoned with to the politicians of Happy Town. She would face down the town mayor during the hearings on the riot, holding her husband's photo while she demanded justice. The vixen would later publicly humiliate Piberius himself during the memorial service for the dead and browbeat the preacher onto the road of becoming a great civil rights leader. She would also never forgive the prey community for her husband's death and that of so many others predators. He also knew that his great-grandmother would remain bitterly and outspoken in her prejudice against prey mammals until the day of her death.

"Nancy, this is my cousin Nick and his friend Judy," Richard said as he ushered the other fox and the rabbit into the house and shut the door.

"Welcome Nick and you too Judy," she icily greeted them from the end of the hallway. "Please take a seat on the couch in the parlor, I'm sure that you're hungry and maybe I can scrounge everyone up something to eat before I go next door and get my babies from Karen." That was as warm of a greeting as they were going to get from the tired and irate vixen and both Nick and Judy realized that as they went into the parlor and sat down.

Richard frowned at his wife and then gave a very embarrassed smile towards his guests. "Go ahead and find a seat, I'll be right back," he quickly added as he scurried after the vixen into the kitchen.

"Nick maybe we should go?" Judy said as she watched the other foxes.

"Where can we go?" Nick replied as he pulled her next to him on the flowery couch. She sat down and yawned. "We both need to rest and then we'll head back out towards the rail yards and see if we can find the others." The exhausted bunny in the black sequenced dress nodded as she leaned back into the pillows and Nick realized that within moments she had fallen asleep. He closed his eyes and leaned back, but his ears perked up as he listened to the hushed conversation taking place behind the kitchen door.

"I can't believe you brought HER into this house!" the vixen quickly snapped at the tod. There was the slamming of a cabinet door and rattling of plates which momentary drowned out any words. "It's bad enough I have act servile to preds for tips at the restaurant all day, now you bring one home and expect me to fawn over her here too?"

"He's family!" he heard Richard slightly growled back in an angry tone. "She's with Nick and you don't need to...fawn...or act servile to her, just treat her like everyone else."

"How do you know he really is family?" she challenged him back.

"By all the gods above, he has to be!" the tod snapped back, "He looks just like me, he has to be kin."

"Still she's a rabbit!" Karen continued. "A damn rabbit with a fox! She's…she's a pred chaser or he's a prey chaser…either way I don't want them around my babies!"

"Vixen, this is my house and he is my family! I will not have you turn away family when they are in need!" the tod snapped back. "Family takes care of family!"

A spoon clanked against a metal bowl before things got silent. Finally the vixen spoke again, "Have you been hanging around with too many wolves? If you think that you can try to go Alpha male on me fox, I'll remind you that a vixen has the last say about her family. That has always been you're problem Richard, you care more about others than you do about me and the children!"

"How can you say that?" the tod challenged her. "I worked my fingers to the bone to buy this place and there's the billiards hall with Frank…."

"That damn pool hall doesn't make enough for us to live on!" she now sniffled. "Ever since Prohibition, you two barley make enough to keep the doors of that joint open. I have to work as a waitress just to put food on the table."

"Everyone has to work, life has never been easy for our kind," Richard softly answered. "Times will get better, trust me."

Nick's ears flattened again because he knew they wouldn't, they were only months away from his great-grandfather's death and the destruction of his precious billiards hall. He began to stand up, determined that he needed to tell them the truth, but he paused when he heard the vixen finally sigh out a reply, "I know…I know…but, where would we foxes be without Wilde Times in the community? You two have given us a place of our own, where we can gather safely together without being looked down upon. No, you and Frank have given our kind a sense of a greater family, almost like we are in a pack, and I'm proud of you for that."

"And what about Nick and Judy?" the tod softly challenged her.

"Nick is welcome and I will tolerate the rabbit as long as she is here," the vixen softly sighed.

"This is the Twentieth Century and times are changing dear," Richard whispered. "After so much death from the war, maybe those two are the new beginning this old world needs? I'm still not saying I too approve, but we'll see." He paused for a moment before continuing. "You do know I love you?"

"You better if you want to eat," she giggled. "Now pass me that bowl of blueberries, I have pancakes to make. Rabbits do eat pancakes…don't they?"

Nick sat back and relaxed, a crisis had been averted for now. He struggled with himself, because he was still worried about what would happen if he told his great-grandfather the truth about his future? As he gazed down at the large plush Oriental rug which covered the floorboard and he suddenly recognized that this was the same rug that was once in his grandfather's apartment, it was now in his mother's. The rug was one of the few remnants which survived his family's tragic past. His eyes went to the table next to him he saw two photos set in a shrine and realized that they were of his great-great grandparent's first sons, Robin and Paul. Both had died as infants just years ago during the 1918 distemper pandemic, one of the deadliest outbreaks of disease in known history. He did some mental math and smiled to himself because his own grandfather and his aunt must have been the babies which his great grandmother was talking about, they would be two years old.

Lying back against the couch's pillows again, he closed his eyes and relaxed as he quickly fell into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

 **The Distemper Pandemic of 1918 is the Zootopian version of the so called Spanish Flu pandemic, which was one of the deadliest health events in modern human history. The illness twice swept across the world and killed an estimated 50 million people, including 5% of the population of India and entire villages in Canada. By the time it finally disappeared, the flu claimed more lives than the First World War.**


	34. Field Trip

**Chapter 34: Field Trip**

* * *

 ** _"The future isn't what it used to be..."_ -** Sam Deed in Happy Accidents. 

**Jack is still trying to get used to his new partner as their investigation leads them to Happy Town, where they cross paths with two familiar characters.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

The thin jackrabbit in the black suit adjusted the sling which held the white cast against his chest as he stared at the petite vixen in a similar black pantsuit. "I am not riding in a motorcycle sidecar!" he stated in a humorless flat tone.

Instead of arguing, Agent Longears pulled out a rather odd looking white cloth strap, along with a heavy black rider's canvas coat. "Our choice then is to call either a police car or a military vehicle to give us a ride," the kit fox replied as she reached around and grasped her tail in her paw. "Or we can walk the dozen or so miles."

"I'll call for a police cruiser," the hare sighed as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

"So says the guy who beat up two cops just a couple of days ago!" the vixen sarcastically laughed as she slipped her tail inside of the strap so it was pulled up against her back. "Besides, the cops won't go into Happy Town and neither will the military without a big convey. Hey, I've got a brilliant idea! Why don't you just call one of the other agents from the Agency? I'm sure their department head would love to know what we are really doing here in the city!"

Jack's ears drooped while he frowned at her as he put his phone away and then watched her for a moment before asking. "Just what are you doing?"

"It's a tail harness," she laughed, "Unlike you bunnies, I have a gorgeously long tail and I want to keep it looking that way. You of all mammals should know that our tails are the pride of our species, I'm sure your wife used to let you groom her tail." The hare tried not to look embarrassed, but he knew that she was right that he had always enjoyed lovingly grooming Skye's tail. It was an act that a fox only allowed another family member or a lover to do. She pretended to ignore his flustered look as she continued. "With it flapping behind me on the bike, it could get caught in the spokes of the tires or hit the hot engine. Not only would that hurt like hell, it might…well, I might end up with a boring tail like yours."

"First I'm a jackrabbit, so don't call me a bunny, that's kind of condescending to my species. Second, what's wrong with my tail?" Jack teasingly objected as he gave his a little wiggle. "I have a nice tail!"

"Agent Savage, you barely have a tail at all, it's so short and stubby!" she teased back as she finished strapping hers to her back, only the tip moved. "As for calling you a bunny, well at least I didn't call you cute!"

"Well at least I don't have to worry about it wagging back and forth when I don't want it to do so," he answered with a smile as he teased her back. "Why Skye used to…" He voice trailed off and he quickly looked away from the other agent, his ears quickly drooped down his back again.

"I know," she quietly sighed as she glanced his way. "They say a fox's tail is a pipeline to his or her soul, like a jackrabbit's ears are to his. Nature did not intend for us to have to hide our real emotions like we do." She pulled the heavy black jacket over her shoulders and picked up her satchel. "Let's get going." she cheerily added.

"Weapon's check!" Jack snapped out in a rather gruff professional manner. He didn't mean for it to sound like he was mad at her, but it did. "I want to check your gun to make sure it's in working order before we go into someplace which is hostile."

She stopped and looked back at him in momentary surprise, before she shifted her stance slightly in a challenging manner. "You show me yours and I'll show you mine," she sarcastically answered with a smirk as she drew her pistol and waited for him to draw his. "But you're right and we better both have working weapons where we are going."

He held his paw out for her pistol, but didn't draw his. Finally she rolled her eyes and shrugged as she handed her pistol over to the senior agent to inspect. He fumbled some as he tried to use his one good paw to inspect it before handing it back. "It's in working order, but it's awkward for you to reach inside that overcoat to draw it!" he snapped. "You need to be aware of that."

"Oh I am," she replied with a thin smile. There was a whirling sound as she shook her left arm and the jackrabbit blinked at the two small barrels of a derringer pointing just over his shoulder. "That's why I've got this too. It looks like a peashooter, but the rounds are rocket propelled and will tear a hole through a rhino's hide like paper before their tiny warheads explode. It might not kill the rhino, but you wouldn't fair as well as a hulking rhino would you?"

"Mice in Q-Branch again?" he simply asked as she pushed the gun back in its spring launched holder.

"Agent Savage, mice might be cute and tiny, but never piss one off because they can be mean...real mean!" she scoffed as she turned, picked up her bag, and strolled into the hallway. Jack knew that the vixen's tail would be giving him a condescending wag if it hadn't been strapped up. He tried not to sigh as he followed her out and closed the door behind him. She didn't take the elevator, but went for the stairs, which was the correct procedure. Elevators were potential deathtraps and should always be avoided by agents. Gently she pushed the exit door slightly open before she peered around and then satisfied enough, she then entered the stairwell. The senior agent was impressed as he watched her appeared unconcerned, while she was actually checking everything out with her eyes, ears, and nose before they proceeded.

When they walked out of the hotel, Jack was expecting to some fancy pretentious foreign made, sleek cherry red plastic and aluminum scooter, but what he saw was a traditional all hard chrome and steel motorcycle. It was an honest to the gods chopper in all its unpretentious glory, looking as if it should have been parked at some highway watering hole in front of a cantina filled with warthog bikers and not in front of a mere Radishton Inn. "I'm impressed," he called out. "I was expecting something a bit more modern high techie and less…well, less of this!"

"Oh come on Agent Savage, admit it, you really did expect something more girlie!" Lisa scoffed as she walked towards the bike. Now the hare was positive that her tail would have been giving him a condescending wag if it hadn't been strapped up.

"I really don't know what to expect from you?' he replied and his comment was greeted with a smile from the fox.

"I'm the kind of vixen who likes to take risks," she continued as she set the bag down and looked the bike over. "After all I am a field agent too and you don't succeed if you don't sometimes take a risk or two."

"Calculated risks only," he admonished her.

"I can't believe that statement came out of the piehole of the guy who just blew up a crime lord and three of his goons?" she laughed as she pulled on a pair of gloves.

The sidecar also wasn't anything like he was expecting, but it looked like a black painted bullet with a wheel. He peered inside and grunted. "There is not much room in there," he finally commented. "It looks bigger on the outside than it does on the inside."

"It's because of all the toys inside," she proudly answered with a grin. "The machine gun and all of its ammunition does take up some room. There's a button on the handle bars which fires it, but the passenger needs to watch out for the spent shells that come flying up from inside the sidecar and of course, there's the heat on your toes when the barrel gets hot."

"I'll take that in consideration," he slightly chuckled as he moved the helmet aside so he could gently climb inside and then he watched her straddle the bike. "Is there anything else I should know about?"

She paused as if she was thinking for a moment, before she reached back and picked up her black helmet. "Not really, if you don't count the small explosives you are also sitting on top of," she finally answered in a faux bored tone. "It turns your little chariot into a missile of sorts. Push the right button and you and the sidecar will zoom off until you hit something and then...well…bang!"

"Does the motorbike explode too?" he sarcastically asked.

"No, it does not and even if it did, I wouldn't tell you with your history of blowing up things!" she chuckled. "Now put your helmet on agent, I don't want a cop to pull me over and give me a ticket."

"I hate wearing these things," he grumbled as he held the back object in his paw. "They are so uncomfortable over my ears."

"Not as uncomfortable as my tail is right now," she snickered.

"After all those missions in state of the art, luxury sports sedans, I'm now degraded to riding in a motorcycle sidecar," Jack replied with a smile. "My how the mighty have fallen, at least Minos isn't here to see this!"

"I've read you're mission profiles Agent Savage and you've driven worse!" she said as he adjusted her helmet. "Just do us both a favor and don't touch anything. Oh and here, please hold my bag."

The hare grunted as the satchel landed in his lap, he could hear ADOLF scurrying around inside before it settled back down. He awkwardly pulled the helmet on, it was made for a fox and so his ear's flopped out from under it and down his back. Leaning over she helped him tighten the black helmet's chin strap. "It's not very flattering," she snorted in an amused manner before straightening up. "So much for you looking like a legendary dashing super-agent!"

"What? What?" he called out with a grin as he tapped the helmet with his paw. "I can't hear you! There's something is covering my dashing ears!"

"Shut up Savage," she laughed as she kickstarted the engine and it growled to life. Moments later they roared their way down the street toward Happy Town. Needless to say, the vixen was not following the speed limit posted along the mostly deserted road.

Two large police cruisers blocked the road as they drew closer to their destination and there were three large rhinos in tactical uniforms aiming their rifles at them as the vixen slowed down. Lisa's sarcastic voice spoke through speakers in the helmet, "I'll let you handle these horn heads, I think my being a fox with a badge will only confuse them and they'll shoot us both."

Jack nodded and pulled off his helmet to let his ears shoot straight up, so they could see he wasn't a predator. As they came to a stop, he pulled out his badge and waved it towards the three police officers. "Official business," he called out to the frowning rhinos. "Let us through!"

"They've got the road barricaded ahead…Agent Savage," the rhino who took his badge snorted as he peered closely at it before handing it back. The police officer's brass name badge had McHorn printed on it.

"Wait the preds have barricaded the roadway ahead, but there are only three of you at this end?" Jack asked in surprise. "What if they rush you?"

"We aren't going in there and they aren't coming out here," the rhino shrugged. "Despite what everyone is claiming, they really don't want to fight any more than we do. Trust me I know their leader!"

"Just who is leading the protesters?" the hare asked as he put his badge away.

"An ex-cop named Wolford," Officer McHorn grunted as he handed the jackrabbit back his badge. "Be careful, we can't come after you if you need help."

Lisa revved up the motorcycle and passed the police, slowly approaching the barricade. A couple of red foxes and a grey fox were watching them approach along with several wolves. "You keep your helmet on," she called out. "Let me handle these boys." Two of the wolves armed with baseball bats and one of the fox's holding a small gun waved them down.

"You two aren't welcome around here!" the handsome grey fox growled. He was in his mid-twenties had a bandage around his neck, obviously caused by a shock collar. The tod was eyeing the bike more than the riders.

Lisa stopped the motorcycle and pulled off her helmet, shaking her pointed ears free as she looked over at the tod. "Not welcome?" she sweetly giggled. "That's no way to treat a vixen."

The male fox stepped back in surprise and then grinned. "Damn, a hot chick on a hot bike!" he laughed. "We figured you were preys, who could tell with all that gear on?"

"Oh stud, you should she me with this gear all off!" she snickered suggestively. She could hear the two red foxes laugh.

"Dude she's just a kit!" One of the wolves angrily protested. "Quit hitting on her like that Jessie!"

"She not a young kit, but a fully grown kit fox vixen you idiot!" the fox named Jessie laughed. "We're just flirting anyways, it's a foxy thing."

"Yeah, this isn't the time for games," a voice spoke from behind them and a grey furred timber wolf in blue police fatigues climbed over the barricade, the patches had been torn off the uniform except one which read K-9 Unit. He stopped and looked at the vixen "Are you Savage?"

"Oh no, I'm not Savage," Lisa answered the new wolf in a faux innocent tone. "Bunny boy over here is Savage, but I do bite!" Her comments made the foxes laugh again.

One of the wolves barked a laugh as Jack removed his helmet, "A rabbit named Savage, that's just wrong!"

Jack ignored the wolf's condescending comments and instead addressed the newly arrived wolf. "You must be Wolford, I take it Officer McHorn called you about our arrival?"

"Yeah, we worked together for years on the ZPD," the wolf replied as he stepped up to the motorcycle. "Some friendships can't be discarded even if city hall say so, it's a thin blue line and we learned on the streets to watch each other's back. Ronnie is a good guy."

"That would explain why none of you still have the collars still on," Jack mused as he adjusted the bag in his lap. "Someone in the ZPD gave you a key. Why weren't you rounded up like the other true predators?"

"We went underground, literally!" the timber wolf answered as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I heard the Agency took Bellwether down, do you have any time frame when they plan to lift the curfew? Things are tense over here, but under control as long as the police and military stay back. We got a group of former cops keeping the lid on things for now."

"The last thing I heard was there are negotiations going on downtown on how to normalize things again," the jackrabbit truthfully answered. "Although, I wonder if you can ever normalize this city after what happened? But we need your help with another matter. We are investigating a cold case, a long ago murder of Judy Hopps by a fox named Nicholas Wilde…"

"Nicholas Wilde didn't kill her!" the grey fox snared. "He was a great fox and was almost framed by the cops, everyone knows that!"

"Well sweetheart, that's why I'm here!" Lisa interjected as she batted her eyes at the fox. "We want to get into the old city records and I think they might be in the library? Say, can't you help a fellow fox get there, it's important?"

"The Agency sent you two to investigate an old murder in the middle of all of this?" Wolford skeptically asked. "I'm not buying that!"

"I'm investigating the murder," the vixen sweetly replied. "Agent Savage over there is grounded with a busted arm and so they sent him along to keep me out of trouble." She looked from the wolf towards the fox again and added with a sexy pout, "You know how it is? They just don't trust a fox with the important cases or even to investigate a very old murder by herself. Maybe a big strong tod like you could get us there safely? There's plenty of room on the seat behind me."

The male fox quickly looked over at the wolf with anticipation and then back at the vixen again. "Go ahead Jessie, keep an eye on them and let me know what they are really up to," the wolf sighed.

The grey fox grinned as he straddled the bike and settled in the seat behind the vixen. "Watch your tail handsome and hold tight," Lisa almost purred and then slightly growled before she started the bike again. "Watch those paws too fox!"

Wolford couldn't help but snicker and shake his head as he heard Jessie's embarrassing answer, "Sorry I've never ridden a vixen… I mean ridden behind a vixen…Ah shit, I'm sorry!" The awkward apology was greeted with a giggle from the vixen as the motorbike pulled away and continued down the street.


	35. Regrouping

**Chapter 35: Regrouping**

* * *

 **Miss Judy and the boys head back to Minnie's place after losing Nick and the other Judy in the early morning confusion.**

* * *

 **1925**

A young adult rabbit's stamina can only carry her so far before her body just gives out and Miss Judy had reached that point thanks to being hungry and the lack of sleep. She gave out a small petite yawn while she stumbled after the handsome rabbit buck and the muscular red fox, the buck too let out a yawn. Zachariah however, being a fox, was still going strong despite his dramatic complaints about starving to death. Finally, Rubin convinced her to stop and laydown for a short rest alongside the river, where he stomped flat a cozy nest within the high grass in a spot where they were concealed from the street. Between the warm rays of the morning sun and the comfortable feeling of the buck pressed against her back as they curled up together, she was content enough to quickly be lulled into a light slumber.

In that half reality of not being quite fully asleep, and yet not partially being awake, she could hear someone splashing in the water and then the fox's low curse, which was followed by his triumphant cry of victory. Her ears flicked at the sound of the fox crunching on something that sounded like bones and in her sleep addled mind, she realized that Zachariah had caught a fish and was now eating it raw. A feeling of revulsion overcame her until she remembered having gone to lunch one day with her coworker Ben Clawhauser and watching the fat jolly cheetah eating a meal of raw fish, which he called sushi. But she still struggled with the knowledge that the fox had killed and eaten something which had been living only moments ago, her primal instincts to either flee or hide from the predator began to kick in and her heart rate began to soar as she panicked. "Shhh! Relax, I've got you," Rubin whispered in her ear as he arms enfolded her in a tight embrace and gently kissed her ear. "It's just Zach, don't worry he'd never hurt you." Wrapped in his protective arms she fell back asleep.

A while later, her ears perked up again at a sound and she opened her amethyst eyes to see that the fox was sitting up on his haunches and watching something or someone by the river. After a few moments, Zachariah laid back down and curled up, with his tail covering his eyes and went back to sleep. She too closed her eyes and drifted off again.

It was the absence of the buck's embrace which caused her to finally awaken again in a slight state of panic and she cautiously sat up and looked around. There was the sound of whispering and it took a few more moments for her to realize that Rubin was standing by a stand of trees with Zachariah. She found herself sitting higher to get a better view, but then was she embarrassed when she saw that they were peeing and she quickly lay back down.

"Ah, you're awake!" Zachariah called out with a grin as he walked from washing his paws in the river. She knew that she had been caught watching them earlier by the fox, but he didn't mention it.

"I made you a salad," the buck quickly said as he sat down next to her with a small cleanly scrubbed wooden plank on which an assortment of wild greens had been arranged. "It's just some sorrel, water cress, dandelions, and a few field leeks, sorry that there wasn't anything to make a dressing."

Her nose twitched with curiosity as she nibbled at the water cress, it had a pleasant peppery taste to it. The other greens she had eaten before, but her family had never grown cress. "It's very good," she said to the buck and his smile widened at her compliment. "Thank you, I was hungry."

While she munched on the greens, she also looked around at the field and towards the town to one side of the street and then at river on the other side of the field. Her eyes widened when she suddenly realized that the sun was now overhead, "What time is it?" she quickly asked. "Is it noon already!"

"It's already past noon, Rubin replied in an apologetic tone. "We all feel asleep and just work up a few minutes ago."

"I heard someone come by," she added as she gnawed on a dandelion leaf. The buck sat down next to her and took a leaf of wild sorrel to eat. "Was I dreaming?"

" Naw, thar was a thin cat in a fancy coat that dun passed by bout an hour ago," Zachariah answered. "He was a sticken to the riverbank and just passed on through. Cept fer a few otters swimming by, ain't no one else ben round."

"You can't sneak up on a sleeping fox," Rubin chuckled as the doe leaned against him. "Trust me, I've tried!"

"We need to get back to Ezekial and Ricky," Miss Judy contently sighed. "They must be wondering where we are by now?" Then her ears shot up, hitting the hare in the side of this head as she remembered why they were there. "We need to find Nick!" she frantically called out as she grabbed her bag and hopped up.

"Thing bout you bunnies that I ain't never got used ta is ya kin go from a sitten to a running in the slap of the paw!" the fox complained as he slowly stood up. "Hop…hop…hop all over the place!"

"Come on you lazy fox!" Rubin called out as he gave a little hop and then ran to catch up to Miss Judy.

"Ah'm a coming ya busy bunny!" Zachariah yelled back as he followed the rabbits.

They finally reached Minnie's store by the middle of the early afternoon hours to find that the vixen was just opening the shop and Ezekiel was lounging on a chair in the front room, while talking to the silver maned fox. "Thar ya'll are!" the red fox called out to them as they entered the building. "I dun thought ya ran off and left lil old me behind? "

"We found Nick!" Miss Judy excitedly answered. "But then we lost him in the crowd last night, so let's get going and find him again!"

"Whar's the kitten?" Zachariah asked as he looked around.

"Ricky is round back a playin tag wid some of the neighborhood kits," his brother answered as he stood up and stretched. "The poor lil guy was plumb tuckered out last night and slept well past the cock's crow this morn. I dun sent a telegraph ta his kin and also yer papa Rubin. So Miss Judy, did this Nick feller say what he wanted of ya darlin?"

"That's the strange thing, he didn't know he even sent me the watch?" she answered as she sat down in a chair. Minnie brought her over a cup of tea and sat down next to her.

"Why would he send you a watch to start with?" the vixen inquired. "And then not know why he sent for you, what's going on?"

Miss Judy's ears quickly drooped when she realized that she said too much in earshot of the vixen. "Ah…well it seems that the other rabbit named Judy was kitnapped by Al Catpone last night," she replied, trying to change the subject.

"Good gods!" Minnie exclaimed. "The poor thing, was she hurt or worse?"

"She was rescued by a preacher named Piberius…" Rubin answered.

"Piberius!" the vixen excitedly cried out, cutting off the buck's words. "Are you telling me that Piberius saved her from the mob? I wish I had seen that!"

"He did, he marched into the hotel with a group of his followers who called themselves the Crusaders," Miss Judy added. "They were singing and praying."

"Making a nuff noise to raise the dead," Zachariah interjected. "At least them a tryin ta get some sleep in that thar place."

"I wish I could have been there," the vixen said in a dreamy tone. "To see Piberius facing down those dangerous gangsters and giving them what for, oh I wish I had known!"

"Thar wer a few of them fancy ladies tween him and them gangsters," the fox sarcastically snickered. "Shoot, someone dun said one of them was the mayor's wife."

"There weren't nuthin bout no such ruckus last night in tha paper?" Ezekiel added as he fumbled for the Happy Town Gazette.

"I'm sure that it was already published by the time all of this happened," Minnie replied as she picked up the newspaper and began to read headlines. "After all the morning edition hits the street vendors and paperboys about two in the morning."

"Look guys, we need to get Ricky and head out," Miss Judy stated as she sipped her tea. "We need to go find Nick again. I think we need to find the pool hall, the one which was full of foxes last night."

"That would be the Wilde Times Billiards Hall," Minnie chuckled. "It's a place where we foxes can get together without someone bothering us. It's over where Piedmont and Billingsworth met Jackson and Pennington, its right next to the old Park Square.

"That sounds about right, there was a park," Rubin confirmed. "Do you think that you could write us down some directions?"

With their directions firmly clasped in Ezekiel's reliable paw, they bid adieu to the silver maned fox vixen and walked back to where they had parked the Furred Model TT pickup truck. Starting a cold Model TT pick-up truck can be a challenge and that afternoon the old truck was just not cooperating. Rubin pulled the choke and then engaged the crank lever under the radiator at the front of the car, taking his time to carefully prime the carburetor with gasoline. The rabbit then climbed into the car, so he could insert the ignition key and turn it to battery. He then had to retard the timing and move the throttle stick into the idle position as he pulled the hand brake back to place the car into neutral. It was only after all this, that Zachariah gave the front lever a vigorous half-crank and sure enough the engine backfired causing the fox to leap away from the lever's back swing. It took a few more moments for them to get the truck to finally start.

"Nothing against your daddy's truck," Miss Judy giggled. "But I can't wait until they invent the automatic transmission, this takes too much effort." She peeked through the rear window to see that the kitten and two foxes had settled down in the back.

"How do you start a car in the future?" the buck asked as he shifted the transmission stick and stomped on the right couple of petals to get the truck moving out onto the street. "Shoot, I bet you've even got flying cars."

"Cars don't fly, but we've got cars that have a keyless starter. You have a thing called a fob and all you have to do is push a button," the doe laughed.

"Ah…Miss Judy, what's a fob?" Rubin asked as he stopped the truck at a street crossing and watched a car pass in front of them. "That's not a nice word nowadays!"

"Well let's just say that once the car starts, all you have to do is put it in gear and step on the gas," she said as she scooted closer to the buck.

"If you are going to stick around with me, you'll have to learn how to do things the way they are now," he replied with a grin. "You said you are a farm girl, things can't have changed that much."

"Oh honey, does the future have a whole lot of surprises for you!" Miss Judy chuckled.

They were just in sight of the small park which Minnie had described when suddenly they heard the sound of gunfire. "Shit!" She could hear Ezekiel exclaimed. "Get us the hell out of here!"

* * *

 **Ford may have made a very popular car called the model T, but it was complex to operate. The first models didn't even have a reverse gear! The introduction of the electric starter simplified things greatly and made the car safer, if you were not careful the starting lever's back swing could break your arm. In 1927, the Model A replaced the stalwart Model T and was much simpler to drive.**

 **FOB was a bigoted word meaning Fresh off the Boat and applied to newly arrived immigrants, especially Asians.**


	36. Agent Longears Meets Dewey

**Chapter 36: Agent Longears Meets Dewey**

* * *

" _ **Time isn't the main thing. It's the only thing"**_ – Miles Davis

 **Agent Savage and Agent Longears visit the library and Lisa is bested by every school child's old nemesis.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

The vixen weaved the motorcycle down the trash and rubble strewn street towards what was once the town's thriving business center. Empty shells of the long defunct wool mills lined the river, their sandy tan limestone walls were now crumbling into the waters below, but their presence reminded them of better times. Above them, the once grand mansions were also remnants of that wealthier boom time before the Great Depression, but now they brooded dark and empty in the afternoon sun. However, the railroad tracks that once divided the town, separating the prey from the predator, were still well maintained and gleaming from their constant use as trains full of their precious cargo and passengers had, until recently, traveled daily up and down them . It had been several generations since a train had stopped at the now ramshackle station, a more modern subway platform stood nearby and it too was also now sitting empty since the community was quarantined from the remainder of the city.

As they rode along, the vixen could feel Jessie's paws on her waist and smiled to herself when she realized that it had been a long time since she had felt a male fox's touch. Shaking her head, she admonished herself for allowing her mind to ponder such thoughts. _You're an agent on a mission, act professional, forget the distractions, and get your mind back in the game_ , she thought to herself. _This is a real assignment, life and death stuff._ She had to concentrate as she maneuvered the motorcycle, trying to avoid the larger potholes in the asphalt as she keep a vigilant eye on what was around her at all times.

Inside the uncomfortable sidecar, Jack glanced first at Agent Longears and then at their passenger, before he returned to scanning the vacant buildings around them for any danger. The vixen had impressed him with how she had played the foxes and wolves at the barricade, using them to get her way. He allowed himself a fond smile as he recalled his late wife's ability to flatter and flirt with others to get what she wanted. He knew from personal experience that a vixen's charm was hard to ignore.

Main Street was much like the area around it, abandoned with only a pawful of businesses struggling to survive. Liquor stores, thrift stores, pawn shops, and a few small mom and pop grocery stores languished among the mostly abandoned buildings. "That used to be the Buckthorne Inn!" Jessie called out over the roar of the engine. "The gangster Al Catpone once lived there!" Jack nodded back to the fox as he warily watched the boarded up windows of the now seemingly abandoned building.

Beyond Main Street, the tod directed them down a few side streets towards a small park. This part of the town was surprisingly clean and well maintained, there was no trash or street mammals hanging around. Instead, the houses had been repaired and there were even several businesses in a small commercial area across from the park. A bistro had a few patrons sitting outside, who watched them with interest. There was also a groomer, a gift card shop and bookstore, and even a trendy clothing store in the little strip mall. "Our Community Association has worked hard on this part of the town and they even got a community revitalization grant under Mayor Lionheart," the tod proudly proclaimed. "We were cleaning up our streets, until Bellwether came along and pulled the financial plug."

Lisa blinked when she saw an old large granite memorial in the center of the square with a brass statue on top of it of a fox in a priest's robe pointing skyward as if he was silently preaching to a flock of pigeons. "Piberius!" Jessie answered her unasked question and she knowingly nodded. The vixen knew that this was the hometown of the great fox.

She pulled the motorcycle into the parking lot of the old library. It had been built in the early seventies as a way to placate the local community after the civil rights protests of the sixties. The ugly looking building was a cheap glass, steel and reinforced concrete modernistic creation which gaudily contrasted with the charm of the older buildings around it. "It's been locked up for months, ever since city hall had it shut down as a precaution," the grey fox sighed. "They claimed that they were afraid one of us preds might suddenly go bonkers inside."

"Well I brought the key!" the vixen sweetly chuckled as she dismounted and stripped her black jacket off. With a sigh of relief, she wiggled her tail from of the confines of the strap and allowed it to wag back and forth for a few moments as she adjusted her black blazer.

Jack tried not to smile as he watched as the tod just stared at the vixen with admiration, she was playing with the poor fox again. Jessie didn't know it, but the vixen had him wrapped around her claw and no matter what she wanted, he'd try to get it. The jackrabbit finally gave a small smile because he knew the male fox's predicament too well, he had been there himself. His good paw reached up and touched the white handkerchief in his black suit jacket pocket. Yes, he knew what it was like to be a willing victim of a vixen's tender manipulations.

"You got the key?" Jessie asked in a perplexed manner, blinking and then blushing with embarrassment as Lisa looked at him with a grin. His eyes were not staring at her's, but other parts of her body as his tail flicked and wagged with interest.

"I've got the key," she giggled as she pulled out her badge. "This and my trusty lock pick set."

"Some help would be appreciated!" Jack snapped from where he still sat inside the sidecar. He was stuck, pinned by the satchel in his lap and he couldn't get enough leverage because of his broken arm. "You could at least get this damn bag off of me!"

"Sorry Agent Savage," the vixen answered as she ran over and grabbed the satchel before the tod could reach for it. "Jessie can you help this poor old geezer out of the sidecar?" she sweetly asked before she returned to the front door and looked the padlock over.

"I'm not that old!" Jack protested as he slowly crawled out of the sidecar, slapping the grey fox's paws away from him. "Don't call me a geezer!"

Lisa didn't answer, but concentrated for a few moments and then deftly picked the padlock. She quickly followed up by picking the front door lock. As she pushed the door open, she peeked inside before calling out to her two male companions, "There's no alarm, why doesn't this place have an alarm?"

"Why would it?" Jessie answered as he joined her at the doorway. "Who would want to steal books?"

Lisa pressed herself against the inside wall, cautiously looking around the room before she reached over and flicked the light switch, "The power's off!" she cursed. Instead of reaching for a flashlight, she allowed her eyes to focus in the semidarkness as she slowly moved from the safety of the wall. She paused as she heard Jessie behind her, but then relaxed when the tod walked by her and looked around before he gave an aggravated sigh.

"What's wrong?" the vixen asked as she joined him in the center of the room.

"They took away all the computers," the tod complained. "So even if we got the power back on, how can we find anything?"

"There's an old card catalog to your left, it's that wooden box with small drawers," Jack called out from the doorway.

A few moments later, the vixen cleared her throat and tentatively called back in a rather embarrassed tone, "Agent Savage…ah…sir…ah, do you know how these cards work?"

He turned to face the two foxes with a dumbfounded look. They were both holding manila cards in their paws and looking at them with their heads tilted in confusion. "Are you telling me that neither one of you know how to use the Dewey Decimal Classification System?" he asked, trying not to laugh at them because of the baffled looks on their faces. "Haven't you been to a library before?"

"Not since elementary school," the vixen huffed out in agitation. "We didn't have a library in either my middle or high school, because the city didn't want to waste funds on a bunch of intercity predators. We only had hand me downs from the mostly suburban prey schools in my class rooms and I just download my reading materials nowadays."

"Gods above!" the hare chuckled as he turned to join them and then he froze when he heard something outside. Slipping back into the shadows near the doorway, he drew his pistol as he glanced down the sidewalk. "We've got company, it looks like an elderly female stout with a cane is approaching."

"That would be Miss Betty!" Jessie almost whimpered with concern. "We're going to catch hell now! She was the librarian here for most her life, before she was forced to retire."

"Maybe she knows how to use these damn cards," Lisa dryly exclaimed. The hare glanced her way as he slipped his pistol into the sling over his broken arm, it was more convenient hidden there than his having to fumble around trying to get it into its holster behind his back. The vixen was standing next to the card cabinet with a card in one paw and her smart phone in the other. She was obviously still trying to figure out the filing system and very displeased with her online search.

Jessie joined Jack at the door and watched as the thin white furred stout in a flowery red dress hobbled up the sidewalk towards the door. "Jessie!" she called out in a very no nonsense tone as she commandingly pounded the tip of her cane on the concrete walkway. "What are you and your friends doing inside the library without adult supervision? You know that isn't allowed young tod, you better not be messing the place up again!"

"No ma'am we aren't doing that," the grey fox meekly replied, his ears were flat on his forehead as if he was expecting to be scolded. "These two are from the government and they want to look in the town's old records."

"You're with the government?" Miss Betty snapped as she stared at the hare trying to hide in the shadows. "If you two are with the city, then you need to turn the power back on and reopen the building! There is no reason for the city to deprive the young minds around…"

"Excuse me," Jack replied as he stepped out of the shadows with his badge held out towards her as he spoke. "You misunderstand ma'am, we are with the federal government and not the city. I assure you that we will put everything away when we are finished and lock the building back up."

The stout frowned at him and then she gave a look of curiosity as she watched the vixen in the background. "She doesn't know what she's doing with those cards does she?" she asked as she shoved herself between the fox and the hare. "Here dearie, let me show you! What are they teaching you nowadays in school? Your teachers should have taught you how to use the Dewey Decimal System the first year you were in junior high school, if not sooner young girl!"

"My teachers?" Lisa asked in confusion and then she realized that the elderly stout thought she was still in high school. "I'm sorry ma'am, but I'm a twenty-four year old kit fox!"

"Lordy, that makes it even worse little lady!" Miss Betty fussed. Jack wanted to snicker, because the bossy little stout was much smaller than the fox. "Just tell me which book you are looking for and I help you find it."

Before she answered, Lisa glanced over at Jack and the hare slightly nodded. "We are looking for the town's old burial records from the nineteen twenties."

"The Catpone Era," the stout chuckled. "There are boxes and boxes of those records in the backroom. A lot of folks died during those years. Why between the last distemper outbreak, the gangsters, and then the riot…well let's just say you will have paws full searching those records. Is there anyone in particular you are looking for?"

The vixen looked over at the hare and Jack nodded again. "We are trying to find if someone named Judy Hopps might be buried in one of the cemeteries?"

"Judith Lavern Hopps," Miss Betty sadly replied as she looked out the window as if remembering something. "I know that name well, little lady. Back when I first started working here, a fox named Nicholas Wilde came by looking for the records. He was the Nicholas Wilde, you know the red fox who founded FoxCon, and he told me that he was once accused of her murder. Anyways, the two of us went through all the records looking for her and we found her interred in the old potter's field on Meadowlark Lane. All the graves were unmarked, but we had a list of grave numbers and he used it to find where she buried. Her spot will now be easy to find, Mister Wilde wanted to make sure she wasn't forgotten and so he had a nice tombstone placed over her grave. Every year he came by about this time of the month to put fresh flowers on her grave and he would also bring new books for the library. I think he loved her and grieved her death until the day he died." She gave a small sniffle as she looked around. "My goodness this place is a mess! Look at all the dust!"

Jack glanced at the stout and then the vixen, before he turned to the grey fox. "Jessie, do you know how to get over there?" he asked. The fox nodded as he sadly watched the elderly stout fussing as she wiped at the dust. "Then Agent Longears, let's lock this place and get going." Turning towards the stout, he smiled as he added, "Thank you ma'am, you've been a great help."

The stout didn't answer, but ran her paw across a row of dusty books. "Go ahead, I've got the key and I will lock up the place up myself," she finally replied. "Libraries are like living souls and they need to be nurtured and loved. This place has been locked up too long, I think it's time to clean her up and reopen even if there's no power. I'm sure that the city won't mind, do you Mister Savage?"

"I'm sure they won't even know," the hare replied with a smile as he holstered his gun and began towards the door.

The old cemetery wasn't that far from the library and at first glance, it was just another weed chocked field near an abandoned burnt down warehouse along the railroad tracks. But, to one side of the seemingly empty lot was a single almost pure white marble tombstone and also a bench made from the same stone. "We're going to have to park the motorcycle here!" Lisa Longears called out to the grey fox behind her and the jackrabbit in the sidecar. She had put back on her black canvas riding jacket, but for the short ride, she had left her tail unbound and it sat comfortably in the lap of the tod who was lightly grasping her waist while sitting on the seat behind her. The kit vixen gave the tod named Jessie a grin as he dismounted and pulled off her jacket, the tod blushed.

Jack rolled his eyes, because the vixen was obviously enjoying seducing the poor male fox. "Ahem!" he cleared his throat in an effort to get either one of the foxes attention. "Would someone please get this bag out of my lap?"

Lisa giggled as she snatched up the bag up and carried it with her as she gingerly picked her way through the weeds toward the lone white stone. Jessie seemed to have forgotten the jackrabbit as he followed right behind the vixen. With a curse, Jack wiggled himself free and carefully climbed out of the sidecar, before he adjusted the black sling holding his throbbing left arm in its cast. Looking around, he slowly drew his pistol from its holster and slipped it inside the sling.

"What an odd inscription?" Lisa said as she sat her bag on the stone bench and read the carved message on the grave:

JUDTH LAVERN HOPPS

She Died Before Her Time

While Trying To Make The World A Better Place

"She died before her time, I wonder what that is supposed to mean?" Jessie asked as he squatted by the stone and read it out loud. Neither the vixen nor the hare answered his question.

"So we need to dig her up," Jack simply stated as he sat down on the bench. "Agent Longears, did you bring a shovel?"

"We can't dig up a dead body!" Jessie objected with a look of revulsion. "Why would you want to do that anyways?"

"Of course we can," the vixen answered as she gave the tod a sweet smile. "We need to see if she got buried with something very important. Come on sweetie, there was a backhoe about a block back. I've never hotwired an industrial machine before, this should be fun!"

"I think your idea of fun and mine are not the same!" the tod replied as he hurried to catch up to the other fox as she walked through the weeds towards the road.

Jack sat on the bench and looked around. Something just wasn't right but he couldn't put his paw on it yet. Then he saw someone stalking down the railroad tracks and frowned, there were two fellow agents in their black suits trying to sneak up on them!

* * *

 **The Dewey Decimal System has been the standard filing system for years, but there are questions about it's survival into the 21st Century. The growing proliferation of on-line books and a push for small community libraries to adopt the trendy "customer friendly" book store set up, have possibly begun to render it obsolete. (Just don't tell Miss Betty I may have wrote this, but she scares me and I'm the author!).  
**


	37. A Shooting at Wilde Times

**Chapter** **37: A** **Shooting at Wilde Times**

* * *

 ** _"There was a spree of time-travel in the 1960s. It caused issues all over the continuum! So we imprisoned its handler, Obadiah Price and had it wiped out completely."_** \- Agent O in MIB 3

 **After a brief rest, Nick and Judy go back to Wilde Times with Richard. Some of Catpone's gangsters show up looking for Reverend Piberius.**

* * *

 **1925**

Judy leaned against Nick and they both struggled to get as comfortable as possible while they sat on the formal couch in his great-grandparent's front parlor. The back of the couch was made of hard dark oak wood which had been carved with elaborate shapes of leaves and vines. Rich crimson and gold silk damask cloth covered the pile of overstuffed pillows and their plush softness gave Nick the feeling that he was slowly sinking into their very depths. "I don't think your great-grandmother likes me?" Judy whispered as she reveled in the feeling of the fox's left paw lazily rubbing her ears. "But, she can really cook great pancakes."

"You think she doesn't like you now, just wait a few more years," Nick softly chuckled. "She going to blame almost every prey mammal she meets for the riot and it's aftermath. I was told that she becomes a very bitter old fox."

"What are you going to do Nick? Are you going to warn you great-grandfather about the riot?"

"I haven't yet decided. In just about every time travel movie or story, the heroes are always warned not to change the past. What would happen to my future if I told him, is it possible that we might never meet?"

"Maybe we already have changed the future?"

"I shudder when it think about that! Look, we already know that the other Judy is proof that something is going to change the future. The problem is that I have no idea about what caused that change and why my future self sent the watch to her, along with a letter, begging her to stop us from doing whatever it was that we did or will do?"

"We will figure it out!"

The fox closed his eyes as he listened to the sound of the vixen humming to her babies in the upper bedroom. His great-grandmother was softly singing his toddler grandfather and aunt to sleep. He too relaxed to the soothing sound of her voice and drifted off to sleep.

"Hey, wake up you two!" a voice called to him in his dream. "Nick…Judy…It's time to get going. I've got to go and open up the hall." Nick blinked a few times as he awoke and looked up into a pair of matching emerald colored eyes. "Sorry, but I don't think you should stay here without me," Richard apologetically added. "If you're still sleepy, there's a couch in the office."

"Yeah, yeah, we're awake," Nick muttered as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. Judy was already standing and looking out the window.

"Then let's go," Richard said as he opened the door. "Come on, we've got a bit of a walk ahead of us."

Nick followed Richard and Judy out of the house and together they walked down the sidewalk. The sky was a bright blue above them and the birds were singing in the trees, it was a scene of domestic tranquility. This was the kind of place which Nick had once dreamt of living in, instead of the bridge he once huddled under or the damp old basement apartment where he now lived. _I'd like to live someplace with trees and green soft grass_ , he thought to himself. He glanced towards Judy and blushed as he imagined coming home to her arms and kisses after a hard day's work.

They didn't speak much as they walked along, but Richard was warmly greeted by many of the other mammals they met. He seemed to be popular and well-liked by everyone. Finally, they arrived at the billiards hall and the fox pulled out his set of keys to unlock the door. "About time Wilde!" a deep voice called out to them as a fennec fox in a brown suit came across the street from the park. "You're late again!"

"Benny, I own the place, so I'm always on time!" Richard laughed as he nodded to the small fox. "You remember Nick and this is Judy."

"Yeah, the skirt who got herself kitnapped. You caused quite a fuss sweetheart!" Benny chuckled as he nodded a greeting towards her. His eyes swept over her and he grinned. "You're a looker, nice pins!"

"It wasn't anything I couldn't have handled," Judy replied. She chose to ignore his comment about her legs as she tied to pull the short sequenced black dress down to cover a bit more of her exposed thighs.

"Sure babe," the small fox snickered as he passed by her and entered into the building. "Let's get this joint open boss! The morning shift should be getting off of work about now and will stopping by for a game or two, along with a few shots of gin or shine."

"You sell liquor here?" Judy asked. "That's illegal, I'm surprised!"

"This is Happy Town, so Prohibition doesn't exist around here," Richard replied with a shrug. "If you don't serve, then you won't have customers. I don't like breaking the law, but a fox has got to live and it's a stupid law anyways. The coppers get their share of the sales, they come in every night to pick up their bribes…ah, I mean bonuses."

"Do you buy from Catpone?" Nick asked as he looked around the room. There were several green felt covered pool tables of various sizes, a long counter with bottles of what they tried to pass off as "soft drinks" lined up behind it, and a few dart boards. The place was nice, but it was not anything that special and certainly not as magical as he had imagined was, based on his grandfather's stories. He then realized that his grandfather was too young to remember what Wilde Times really looked like and probably had made up most of the stores about the place.

"Nope, this is Snapper Territory and we get it from them!" the fennec fox answered. "You should taste the new stuff! It's got a sweet honey flavor and is made by a farmer just outside of town."

"What about Clawhauser?" Richard asked as he looked down at the smaller fox. "Has anyone seen the cheetah?"

"Nope, not a soul. At least none who would talk," Benny sighed. "The boys are still looking for him."

Nick and Judy followed Richard into the back room, past a long table which had some playing cards and few poker chips on it and another table with some dice. "Gambling too?" Judy sighed.

"Like I said, a fox has to make a living," Richard answered in an apologetic manner.

The office wasn't very grand either, there were crates of supplies in the corner and an old beaten up desk in the room's center, it was covered with ledger books and bills. A very large sofa sat along a wall with a cotton blanket draped over it. "Take a seat," Richard called out as he sat at the desk. "We'll wait to see if any of the boys come by with word on Clawhauser."

Across town, despite all his scheming, Al Catpone hadn't forgotten about his early morning order to rough up Piberius and reminded Lucky, Bugsy, and a thin tiger named Larry to take care of that particular business.

Wilde Times Billiards Hall was mostly empty when the gangster's arrived and Bugsy shoved the door open only to be confronted by the fennec fox in a brown suit sitting on a stool with a small newspaper in his paws. "What the hell are you clowns doing here?" Benny barked out. "You know that this place is off limits to you goons!"

"Where's Piberius?" Bugsy demanded as he glared around at the paw full of foxes that were standing by the pool tables and then at a portly grey vixen in a blue dress, who was slowly sweeping the floor. The vixen was seemingly not paying any attention to anyone as she steadily worked.

"Do you droppers really expect to find a mammal of the cloth in this place?" Benny scoffed as he lit up a cigarette and after taking a puff, sent a cloud of smoke drifting lazily towards the ceiling. "Nope, there ain't no one but us sinners around this place." His comments were greeted by laughter from the other foxes.

"Come on you little shrimp, everyone knows he hangs around here when he ain't on the streets causing trouble," Bugsy snarled and then he threw his paws up in agitation. "Why am I trying to talk to you idiots anyways, get me Wilde! I want to talk to someone who knows where that damn preacher is hiding!"

"Well Wilde ain't here!" Benny answered with a shrug of his small shoulders. "If I was you, I'd hightail it out of here before the Snappers find out that you're in their territory."

"Fine, have it your way!" the ocelot answered as he gave them an evil grin while he pulled the front door open. "Lucky get in here and convince them to talk!"

The tall lion entered the building cradling a large black metallic submachine gun with its lovingly polished brown wooden stock and a huge circular magazine of bullets attached. "You don't want to talk to us, so I'm going to let Tommy do the talking!" he called out as he lowered the gun.

"Shit!" the small fox barked out as he jumped off the stool and scurried behind the counter. The other foxes dove under the pool tables as the gun fired.

 _Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!_

 _Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!_

 _Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!_

Bullets zinged through the air, peppering the wall behind the pool tables. There was also the sound of the empty brass cartridges hitting the hard wooden floor. "Who's talking now!" the lion roared over the noise and through the gun smoke.

BOOM!

The loud report of a shotgun answered his question and the door next to the lion was splintered into wooden shreds. He looked down at the portly grey fox, who had traded in her broom for a large single barreled shotgun. He lowered his gun and aimed at her, but when he squeezed the trigger it didn't fire!

"It's Wilde...he's running!" Larry cried out from outside and with a scowl, Lucky stumbled out of the door and into the street.

BOOM!

The shotgun roared again, the round just missing the lion, as it riddled their car and its front tire. Lucky fumbled as he began to draw his pistol. "Forget her, get Wilde!" Bugsy yelled.

Lucky stopped and first looked at the red fox in a blue jacket running one direction down the street and then at the fox in a brown checkered suit sprinting after Judy, as they ran the other way. Both of the foxes looked exactly the same. "Which one is Wilde?" he called back in frustration.

"Just get them both!" the ocelot screamed as he and the tiger ran after Richard. The lion shrugged and took off running down the street chasing after Nick and Judy, all time he was trying to unjam his submachine gun.

The red fox and the rabbit ran for all they were worth, weaving and bobbing as they desperately tried to get away from the big cat who was chasing them. Each was expected a volley of bullets to cut them down at any moment.

"There's a car, Carrots!" the fox cried out when they saw a black sedan idling in front of a shop down the block.

Judy jumped into the passenger's seat, just as Nick slid behind the wheel, but the vehicle didn't move. "What's the matter?" she desperately cried out as the lion drew closer. "Drive!"

"I don't know how?" Nick yelled back. "It's…it's a manual transmission, who drives a stick shift anymore?"

Judy looked at the fox, Nick was staring in panic at the odd assortment of levers and pedals. "Do you know how to drive this thing?" he asked. She looked at everything, but it didn't look anything like her family truck's manual transmission. Judy shook her head no. "Then run!" Nick yelled as he jumped out of the car again.

There was the sound of a horn and both the fox and rabbit looked to see that a black truck had stopped in the road ahead of them. Nick realized there was a familiar looking fox waving at them. "Get to the truck!" Judy yelled out as she ran past Nick and hopped into the arms of one of the foxes. Nick quickly crawled in behind her as the Furred Model TT picked up speed, leaving the angry lion behind them.

"Damn!" Lucky roared as he tossed the large gun down and drew his pistol, but it was too late because the car was now out of range. "Bugsy's gonna skin me!" he growled as he reached for the discarded gun and shook it again as he pulled the trigger.

 _Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!_

The gun went off, riddling a brick wall across the street. "Sure now you work!" the lion cursed.

By the time Lucky had caught up with the ocelot, Bugsy was alone and he looked really mad. "Where's your fox?" he growled at the lion.

"He got away in a car," Lucky answered with a shrug as he cradled his gun. "Where's yours and where's Larry?"

"That damn fox ran down to the river, jumped into it and then swam away. I shot at him, but missed. So I pushed Larry into the river and told him to swim after the fox, I thought all tigers could swim?"

"All of them can, except for Larry! He never learned. You didn't let the poor guy drown did you?"

"Don't be an idiot, of course I didn't!" the ocelot grumbled as he began walking down the street. "I threw him a plank and he grabbed it as he floated away."

"Ah Bugsy, you do know the wool mills are down river?" Lucky quickly said as he followed the other cat.

"So what?"

"They have those large water wheels to turn their turbines. What if he gets caught in one of those?"

"I'll send some nice flowers to his widow. A nice pretty bouquet, like the one the boss sent to Rico's mother after he had him killed."

"Larry wasn't married."

"I'm sure that someone will fish his tail out before he gets caught up in something. He'll be fine."

The lion just shook his head as he shouldered his gun.

* * *

 **A "dropper" is 1920's slang for a hired killer. "Pins" refers to a female's legs.**


	38. She Died Before Her Time

**Chapter 38: She Died Before Her Time**

* * *

 ** _"Time line?! This is no time to argue about time! We don't have the time!"_** \- A drunken Commander Deanna Troi in _Star Trek: First Contact._

 **Lisa and Jack dig up Judy's grave, but things take a turn to the worse for the two agents.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

It has been scientifically proven that that a wolf can smell something long before he or she sees it and that a rabbit, or a hare like Jack Savage, can hear someone before seeing him. However, Agent Lisa Longears was a fox and one of nature's almost perfect hunters. So, both her nose and ears warned her about the two other agents that were trying to sneak up on them from upwind.

"Agent…" Jessie began to say, the grey fox had also detected their stealthy approach and was turning his head towards the intruders. "Mumff!" he groaned as the vixen grabbed his shirt and locked her muzzle onto his in an apparent passionate kiss. His eyes widened in surprise and then he realized that she was not looking at him, but behind him.

Breaking their kiss, the small vixen leaned against his chest as if she was snuggling him, while her tail wagged behind her. He forced his tail to also wag, which was easy because he truly was content with her attentions. "Sorry, but we've got company and I wanted to watch them without their knowing I was looking. When we break our embrace, I want you to wave and say goodbye…"

"I can't…" he began, but hesitated when he realized where she was going with her request. There was more than a grain of truth in the old stereotype that foxes were sly and sneaky, that was what made them such dangerous hunters or gamblers.

"Go down the street until you are past the old warehouse," she continued to whisper as she pressed her face against his chest. "I need you to make us foxes proud by then prowling through the tall grass, without being seen, until you reach my motorcycle."

"Sure," he huskily answered.

"The guy who is hiding by the switch has a rifle, can you line up the motorcycle so that the sidecar is pointing at him? Don't let him see you!"

"Why?"

"Hush!" she whispered. "When I scream, push the red button, not the black, but the red." She looked up into his eyes and he realized that she was both scared and desperate.

"Okay, push the red button when you scream," he answered. She leaned up and gave him another kiss.

The two agents, who were hiding along the tracks, watched as the foxes parted ways and that the grey fox seemed to have waved goodbye as he walked one direction and the vixen another. "One less target to worry about," the woodchuck the black suit whispered to his taller partner. The zebra just grinned as he kept his rifle trained at the kit fox, who appeared unaware of their presence as she walked over to the huge backhoe.

It took Lisa several minutes before she could get the machine started and then she climbed into the tractor's cabin and began driving it down the street towards the field. The tractor made both a loud rumbling noise from its engine and metallic clanking noises from the metal treads rolling along the asphalt. The vehicle slowly creeped its way over to where the hare was sitting and after she arrived, the fox jumped out and removed her satchel out of the way before climbing back up into the tractor's cabin. After a few attempts, she finally brought the large scoop down into the dark rich soil and began to dig.

Both of the other agents hiding down by the railroad were watching the vixen and the hare, so neither noticed that the grey fox had backtracked and was now slowly stalking through the weeds and tall grasses until he reached the motorcycle. Carefully, Jessie nudged the machine so that the sidecar was pointing at where the zebra was hiding. Then he slipped back into the tall grass to hide once again.

After a few minutes, the vixen cut off the engine and jumped out of the cab to peer down into the hole she had created. "It looks like we're going to have to use a shovel from this point on," Lisa grumbled as she stripped off her black jacket and dug around in the back of the tractor for the right sized shovel. Then she picked her bag up and unzipped it, leaving it sitting on the large tractor's tread. Looking over at the jackrabbit, she grinned as she added, "Too bad your arm is busted, because I understand your species just loves to dig holes."

"Ha…ha!" Jack softly groaned as he looked down into the grave and then briefly from the corner of his eye, he looked towards the train tracks. "Just get to work and let's see if Wilde hid the watch inside."

The vixen with the shovel dropped into the hole and out of the view of the other agents, then she looked up at Jack and whispered very softly, "There are two guys watching us on the tracks. Jessie should be by the cycle awaiting my signal."

The hare didn't bat an eye, but suddenly yelled, "Can't you dig faster!" He adjusted his sling slightly and gave her what appeared to be a knowing wink.

After several shoves full of dirt and gravel, there was a soft thump, "Ah! I think I hit…" Lisa began to call back to the Jack, but then there was a cracking of rotted wood and she fell into the dirt and bones. "Oh yuck!" she exclaimed as she finally stood up and tried to brush off the dirt stains from her once white blouse.

"Well finish digging around," a voice answered and she looked up to see Jack standing there with this paws in the air and a woodchuck in a black suit was holding a gun at him. "But, first you are going to slowly toss your gun up here or Savage gets it!"

Lisa looked over at Jack who nodded and she drew and tossed her gun onto the dirt by their captor's paws. "Good," he chuckled. "I understand you foxes like to dig, so get at it." She nodded and picked up the shovel and went back to work digging up around the broken coffin.

"What's all this about Woodstock?" Jack asked the woodchuck. "Why are you here? This is my department's investigation not the Homeland Defense Bureau's."

"Aw come on Savage, we know all about the watch and how it can do time travel," the agent chuckled. "Our team wants it."

"So your department has gone rogue?" the hare snapped back. "The Director will have your hides when this gets out and it'll start an inter-agency war."

"Who says it'll get out?" Agent Woodstock laughed and then he glanced down at the vixen. "Pull those boards up carefully and don't try anything. I've got back up watching and you'll be dead before you can swing that shovel, so be smart."

The vixen nodded and seemingly trembled as she pulled back the boards and tossed them aside to reveal the bones of a long dead rabbit, scraps of rotten cloth and some tufts of fur. "Where the hell is the watch?" the woodchuck snarled as he leaned over to look into the hole. "There's nothing down there but bones!"

He swung his pistol towards Lisa, who raised her arms and cried out, "ADOLF!"

"Who's Adolf?" Agent Woodstock asked in confusion and then he saw something leap from the tractor tread. As he looked up, the six legged robot firmly grabbed the agent's muzzle and drove two of its venom filled needles into the woodchuck surprised face. The falling agent's gun fired and the bullet just missed the vixen as she grabbed the hare's feet and yanked him into the grave with her. He fell into the bones just as she gave out a blood curdling yowl.

At the sound of the vixen's cry, Jessie leaped from his hiding place and lunged towards the motorcycle. The fox saw that the zebra in the black suit had momentarily stood up and was looking at what was happening at the graveside in confusion. Then the agent noticed the fox and quickly lifted his gun as he turned, but Jessie slammed his paw onto the red button before the agent could fire.

BURRRRAAAPPP!

The machine gun inside of the sidecar rattled, sending round after deadly round slamming into the agent and throwing the now bloody zebra's body back onto the railroad tracks below. Jessie had jumped away from the motorcycle in surprise when the gun fired and stared with wide eyes at the smoke, which smell a tad like fireworks, that was coming out of the front of the sidecar. "Damn!" he exclaimed.

"Good shooting!" the vixen called out to him as she crawled out of the grave and picked up the shovel. "Now come over here and help me get Agent Savage out of this hole!"

Jack leaned over and dug around with his good paw, shoving the dirt and bones around as he searched. "Nothing!" he huffed out in anger. "Just nothing!" Standing up he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and made a phone call. "Armageddon!" was all he said before he hung up and tossed his phone into the grave. "Toss your phone into the grave too!" he commanded. "And then get me out of this hole!"

"What's going on?" Lisa asked as she tossed her phone into the grave. She gave a small smile as ADOLF climbed onto her shoulder and Jack could have sworn that the little robot was protectively looking around with its one beady red dot of an eye as if it was expecting more danger.

"The Agency is going to war with itself," the hare softly answered as she pulled on his paw, helping him climb out of the dirty hole.

Jessie finally made it to the grave site and he looked down at the woodchuck, who was now lying on the ground giving an unblinking startled looking stare up at the sky above. "Is he dead?" the fox asked.

"Not yet," he's just paralyzed," the vixen replied as she picked up the shovel and returned to where the agent was sprawled. "Threaten to shoot me!" she snarled as she waved the shovel menacingly over the woodchuck.

"Agent Longears!" Jack exclaimed. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, I was just contemplating about one of the many ways I could use this shovel to make sure that our friend here doesn't get away when the toxins wear off," she sweetly answered. Then she saw the disapproving look the hare was giving her and tossed the shovel down. "Fine, have it your way."

Jessie was leaning over as he pulled something out of the dirt, it was a little black plastic box. "Hey, is this what you are looking for?" he called out as he held it towards the hare. "It must have been buried on top of the grave."

Jack hesitated as his ears shot up straight and then he suddenly looked skyward, "Take the box and let's get to the motorcycle…NOW!"

Lisa glanced up at what he was looking at and saw that a large military blimp was churning its way towards them. "They have a war blimp?" she growled as she and the grey fox tried to drag the heavy woodchuck with them across the field.

"Leave him behind or we won't make it out of here. Just get the motorcycle going and drive like hell!" Jack yelled as he unceremoniously fell into the sidecar. "DO IT!"

The vixen kickstarted the motorcycle and they roared away at full throttle down the street away from the cemetery. "What about the other guy?" Jessie cried out as he held onto Lisa with all his strength. "We left him still out there!"

There was a series of loud booms and Jack winced as he looked back at the fiery explosions behind them. "It's too late for him, he was going to kill us anyways!" the hare called back. "They zoomed in on our Agency issued phones and have just blown the whole damn place to bits."

"We're not going to be able to lose them!" Lisa howled out as she drove down a side street at breakneck speed. "They have to be tracking us."

There was a roar overhead as four missiles streaked by and slammed into the large armored airship, flames poured out of the behemoth craft as it began slowly burning and losing height. Lisa stopped and looked back as the fiery ball crashed into the river. "What just happened?" she asked.

"The Homeland Defense Bureau may have control of the blimp, but our department controls the drones," Jack answered. He had adjusted himself into the seat and was scanning the sky. "Find someplace to hide out and then let's see what's in this box."

As Lisa drove them down the trash and rubble strewed Main Street, she heard Jessie tell her, "The old hotel, the Buckhorne Inn, is a meeting place for the Snapper's Gang and a safe place." The vixen nodded as she pulled off the street and down a dingy alleyway. "Park inside of here," the tod added as he pointed to a ramp that led under the building.

Once parked, the vixen dismounted and drew her pistol as she searched around for danger inside the seemingly empty building, all traces of the once glamorous hotel were long gone and only the peeling wallpaper and stained rotting carpets were the last vestiges of long ago grander time. Jessie had stayed outside to assist Jack out of the sidecar and finally the senior agent and the male fox followed her inside. "Come on," Jessie called back as he quickly walked down a hallway, past some fallen wood and into a room. "In here, it's safe!"

Jack held the black plastic box with his one good paw as he followed Lisa, who was cautiously following the tod while looking and sniffing for danger. They entered the room and were surprised to find a cheery looking well lit interior with antique mahogany chairs and a long table. "It's Catpone's old safe room," Jessie said with a grin. "Walls of solid concrete and a steel door which only opens from the inside, we added a more modern electrical generator a few years back."

"So you belong to a street gang?" Lisa inquired as she holstered her pistol. "I've heard of the Snappers, they fought Catpone and even the city police." ADOLF stayed perched vigilantly on her shoulder.

"It's more of a social club nowadays," the tod shrugged. "Even Wolford is a member and he was once a cop too, every candid in Happy Town is born a member."

"So where is Catpone's real vault?" the vixen asked as she looked around with curiosity at the old antiques. "I remember my mother talking about they had a television special before I was born when they thought that they had found it under the old Pawsington Hotel in Zootopia. You know they had that special with that talk show host…what was his name? Geraldo…something? _"_

"Yeah everyone around here still laughs about that fiasco, how they did all that hype and then the hidden room turned out to be empty, except for an old bottle or two!" Jessie snickered. "There is no secret vault around here, at least not one which anyone in Happy Town knows about."

Jack sat down on a lush purple and brown fabric chair and set the sealed black plastic box onto the rich dark brown mahogany table. He looked it over and it was glued closed. After fumbling around in his pocket, he withdrew a pocket knife and then looked at the box again before he let out an agitated sigh. "Agent Longears, come over here and let's cut this box open!" he called out to the vixen. "Hopefully, this is what we came for."

"What did you really come for?" a voice asked from the doorway. Lisa turned and quickly drew her pistol, only to see a wolf in blue police fatigues standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"What the hell have you gotten us into Savage?" the hulking rhino in police riot gear, who was standing behind the wolf, added as he stared down at the agent. "There's a war going on out there."

"Uh-oh, I think we're in trouble now!" the vixen mumbled as she lowered her gun. She was embarrassed that the intruders had snuck up upon them.

* * *

 **Jack leaving Agent Woodstock behind was a practical decision. He knew that there was no way they could save the rogue agent and still survive what was going to happen.**

 **Okay, I have to poke fun at TV personality Geraldo Rivera and his infamous live prime time special called _The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults_ , which aired back in 1986. An estimated audience of 30 million people, including this old goat, watched the overly hyped up two hour special as they dug into what they claimed was a secret vault in the Lexington Hotel. Capone had used the Chicago hotel as a base for his criminal enterprises from 1928 until his arrest in 1931. The room the crew discovered was empty, except for a few old bottles. **


	39. Judy Finally Meets Judy

**Chapter 39: Judy Finally Meets Judy**

* * *

"… _ **for us physicists believe the separation between past, present, and future is only an illusion, although a convincing one."**_ \- Albert Einstein.

 **I thought about ending this story by having Judy waking up and finding Nick in the shower (shades of** _ **Dallas**_ **) or maybe telling her husband Jack about a strange dream she had concerning a fox named Nick (Okay, that was too much like the last episode of** _ **Newhart**_ **). Instead, let's continue our story with what really happens when our two rabbits actually meet.**

* * *

With a grunt, Nick pulled himself into the back of the black truck just as it's driver allowed it to pick up speed again. A muscular red fox in a cheap suit gripped his arm and yanked him further into the truck's rear bed. He glanced back at the lion, who had lowered his pistol even though they still should have been within range of his large caliber weapon.

"Why didn't he dun shoot us when he could have?" the fox holding Judy asked in confusion.

"That was Lucky," the rabbit in the black sequenced evening dress answered. "I guess he really didn't want to shoot at me after last night."

"Darn tooten we waz lucky!" Zachariah growled.

"No, the lion's name is Lucky," Judy giggled.

"Just what did you two do last night?" Nick asked in an amused tone as he turned and looked at the rabbit with his eyebrows raised. "Is there something you didn't tell me?"

"He just kind of watched over me during the evening, keeping back anyone who wanted to get too friendly," she answered as she watched the lion in the distance pick up his discarded submachine gun.

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

The gun went off, but everyone knew that they now were too far away for the bullets to hit them. "He really wasn't that bad of a guy…for a gangster," she added.

"Sure Carrots, he was a real peach!" Nick chuckled as he settled down next to one of the other foxes. "You're Zachariah…right?"

"Yep and that thars ma brother, Ezekiel," the fox next to him answered. "And the fluff ball over thar is Ricky."

"I'm not a fluff ball!" the kitten objected.

"Well, I think you're are a very handsome tomcat," Judy interjected and the kitten gave her a grin. "I'm Judy, I don't think any of us have met."

"Tolt ya that she sure does look like Miss Judy," Zachariah said with a smirk to his brother. "A cotton pickin image, ah reckon."

"Shoot, she dun even sounds like her too!" Ezekiel proclaimed. "Just like two peas in a pod."

The truck rumbled for several more blocks, before Rubin pulled over into a small park overlooking the river. The buck hopped out and cautiously glanced around, "This looks like a good place to talk," he proclaimed to the others. "I think we need to have a discussion about what the hell is going on!"

"He tends ta get a tad bossy sometimes," Zachariah softly snickered to Nick. "Just like his pa!"

Nick didn't laugh because he saw that Miss Judy was now standing next to the buck and except for the wrinkled flowery dress she was wearing, she looked just like the rabbit doe who was sitting next to him. "Yeah, I think talking might be a good idea," he agreed as he too stood up.

Judy however, hopped down next to the truck and stared at the other doe in awe. As the two does slowly drew close, Nick suddenly stepped between them. "Hey stop! Have you two even thought about what might happen if you two touch?" he blurted out in a concerned voice. "Wasn't there a movie or a TV show where the two characters touched and all of reality just faded away or was it that they all exploded?"

"NICK!" Both of the rabbit does exclaimed at once.

"Don't be silly Slick!" Judy scoffed as she pushed past the fox and offered her paw towards the other rabbit. "I'm Judy Hopps."

Miss Judy reached out to take Judy's paws, but hesitated. "What if he is right?" she asked. "What if we change reality?"

"I think with the both of us now here, we've already done that!" Judy replied. "Besides Nick's over creative imagination has a tendency to run away with him sometimes."

"Hey!" the fox objected.

"Reckon we ain't gonna know lessn ya touch," Ezekiel chimed in with an amused manner and a devious grin on his muzzle. "Somehow, thar still a gonna blame us foxes fer the world dun ending anyways."

Miss Judy giggled at the fox's comments and reached out again, their paws touched and at first, nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly, it was as if snippets of each other's memories spilled over into the other's mind.

 _Judy saw Duke Weaselton kicking the restaurant's display doughnut at her and she heard the shrew's scream as she turned to dive for it, but she missed. There was a crunch and then she saw the body of Fru Fru lying twitching on the street, dead. Her best friend was killed because she was not fast enough. She gasped as she looked on with horror and overwhelming guilt, but that's not the way it happened!_

" _He killed her!" someone screamed from the street._

" _I told you to wait for the real cops!" Officer McHorn angrily yelled from outside of town's little wall. "You shouldn't have chased him! You're just a meter maid."_

Miss Judy saw the same event playing out in her memory, but instead she had caught the large doughnut just before it landed on the shrew.

" _I love your hair," she said to the pretty little shrew._

" _Aw... Thank you!" Fru Fru replied._

 _She turned around and brought the display slamming down on top of the weasel, pinning him inside. She then rolled the hapless burglar towards the town's wall and the uniformed rhino standing outside, still waiting for his backup._

"I…you, saved her?" Miss Judy mumbled as she stumbled backwards into the arms of Rubin, who protectively held her.

Judy had almost collapsed onto the street, only to be caught up by Nick who held her in his arms. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern. "What just happened?"

"Our memories," Miss Judy answered. "I've been having periodic flashbacks in my mind of events that happened between you and Nick ever since I arrived in this time. Haven't you had anything like that?" She asked Judy.

"No," Judy answered as she shook her head while she gained her feet again. "Not until we touched. So you really are me from a different future? How…why are you here?"

"I got a package with the watch that Nick sent to me, he had it delivered long after he died. It must have been the same day and time when you two traveled to the past." Miss Judy explained. "His note said to stop us, do you have any idea what that means?"

Judy shook her head and leaned against the truck's side as she thought. "I think you and I need to go over everything we have done since with both arrived and see if there are any common threads."

"Why don't you just touch paws again?" Nick asked with curiosity. "Maybe you can…ah download each other's memories."

"Download?" Ruben asked as he looked skeptically at the fox. "What does that mean?"

"We can give it a try?" Judy replied as she reached over and hugged Miss Judy. This time it was as if the floodgates of their memories poured out into each other.

With a groan, Judy awoke to see Nick peering down at her with concern. "You two have been out for hours!" the fox softly said. "Are you okay?"

"Hours?" Judy began to say. "What do you…"

"…mean I've been out for hours?" Miss Judy finished her sentence. The fox looked over at the other rabbit with surprise.

Judy sat up and stared at the other rabbit doe. "Do you remember?" she began to ask.

"Everything," Miss Judy answered. "Do you…?"

"…everything too," Judy replied as she looked at Rubin. In her new memories, she remembered surprising him while he was in the bathtub and as they tenderly... She shook her head when she realized that they were not her memories but her counterparts.

"Bellwether tried to shoot you with the toxin," Miss Judy suddenly said to Nick. "But you changed the pellets with blueberries, that was just brilliant!"

"This here is now a getten creepy!" Ezekiel proclaimed as he looked from Judy to Miss Judy. His brother nodded as he stared at them both with wide eyes. "Ya ken each other's minds?"

"No, I just…" Miss Judy started to reply.

"…remember her memories," Judy finished.

"All of them?" Rubin asked, he looked towards Judy and she nodded. "Including?" The rabbit nodded again. "Oh my!"

"What's going on?" Ricky asked.

"Yer too much of a youngin ta know," Zachariah snickered out as he saw that the embarrassed looking buck had actually pulled down one of his ears to cover his eyes, just like the time they caught the fourteen year old rabbit spying on their sister while she was skinny dipping in the pond. "Yep, dun be too young fer this."

"That's not fair!" the kitten pouted as he crossed his arms. "You sound just like daddy and then he tells me to go ask mommy!"

Nick frowned as he glanced from Judy, who was sadly and knowingly looking at Miss Judy, and then at the two other foxes. He could tell that there was something that they hadn't told the young kitten yet, something bad.

"Come on Ricky, this here is a getting too weird fer my little old dirt farmer's brain, let go play fetch," Zachariah called out.

"Cats don't play fetch," the kitten laughed as he chased after the fox.

"Well, we foxes dun do!" the fox yelled back as they ran down the street with a small white baseball.

Judy watched them running away, before she turned back to Miss Judy. "The book, the ledger…" she began.

"…but they don't arrest him until 1929," Miss Judy answered.

"The ledger starts the whole tax evasion case, but…" Judy firmly stated as she stood up.

"…do you remember who the agent was?" Miss Judy finished her question. "It's too soon for that."

Judy nodded as she concentrated on a plan.

"This is now starting to freak me out!" Nick whispered to Rubin and Ezekiel. "And I've seen some strange shit in the future."

"So we don't know what I'm…I mean…" Judy finally sighed out.

"…supposed to stop me and Nick…I mean, you and Nick…" Miss Judy also sighed.

"…from doing?" Judy finished.

"Would you two stop dong that!" Rubin groaned. "It's giving me a headache."

"You know he is really cute," Judy giggled. "I'll bet next time…"

"…well it was the first time and we are rabbits," Miss Judy replied with a grin as she shrugged her shoulders.

Nick couldn't help but smile as the look of disbelief that the buck was now giving both the rabbit does.

"Lordy, if'n you two keep this up, you'll up and give the poor boy a brain fart and we'll have to…" Ezekiel began to say.

"…lock him up in the looney bin," Nick snickered as he finished the other fox's sentence.

"Not funny you two!" the buck angrily snapped back at them and then he started laughing. "Well, maybe it was at that."

"In all seriousness, we have…" Judy began.

"…to find Tommy Clawhauser," Miss Judy finished. "But we don't know where we can find him?"

"But we do know where the owner of the watch dies," Nick sighed. "Maybe we need to start there instead?"


	40. Running out of Time

**Chapter 40: Running out of Time**

* * *

" **How could a time machine exist? Please don't be silly. The time machine doesn't exist. What does exist, are the time doors."** – Salvador in _El Ministerio Del Tiempo._

 **Agent Jack Savage opens the mysterious black box and in the past, Tommy Clawhauser sneaks out of Happy Town.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

Agent Jack Savage watched as the vixen lowered her pistol at the sight of the wolf and the towering rhino cop, her reaction worried him. Sure, he was impressed with Agent Lisa Longear's ability to flirt to get her way and her plan at the cemetery to neutralize the two rogue agents was brilliant, but an agent never lets his or her guard down like she had seemingly just done. An agent must always assume that the other guy was going to kill him and must be willing to pull the trigger of his pistol as he looked into the eyes of his target. _Gods, have I fallen that far?"_ he mused to himself as he kept his paw on the pistol hidden inside his sling. _Have I become so far lost as to become a stone cold killer?"_ He had saved Wilde's life, although the fox had nothing of value for his investigation, but only out of a sense of guilt for dragging the poor guy into the whole thing. Then again, he didn't even bat an eye when he ordered that the two foxes to leave Agent Woodstock helpless on that killing field.

Jack glanced up at the intruders, neither one of them was posing a current threat, and so he too slightly relaxed. However, he still kept his good paw on his hidden pistol. He glanced over at the petite fox kit vixen again and her brown eyes were carefully watching the two newcomers, for a moment he thought of another familiar vixen's blue eyes that surrounded by white fur. _"So are you going to shoot me or make love to me Savage?"_ Skye had challenged him after the end of their first mission. She was at that time only a temporary ally and a dangerous agent of a rival foreign nation, he chose to holster his gun that night instead of following his orders to kill her.

"Savage, are you listening to me?" Wolford called out again. The former cop in the blue police fatigues had entered into the room. The only patch that was left on his uniform was the cloth strip which proudly identified himself as a former member of the ZPD tracking unit, the elite K-9 Team. Jack looked up at the timber wolf again and was surprised to see that Wolford was now wearing his police badge. "What the hell is going on?" the wolf repeated.

"Treachery!" the hare simply answered. He caught sight of Agent Longears and she was now leaning against the wall with her paws folded across her chest, her diligent robotic companion still perched upon her shoulder. Jack blinked in surprise when he realized that the vixen had not holstered her pistol, but still held it in her paw. _"With a fox, looks can be deceiving,"_ a loving voice said within his memory. He remembered Skye telling him that as she gently stroked his ears. " _Especially with us vixens."_

"We need more than just you saying it's treachery," the McHorn testily snapped back at him. "I've got a still burning war blimp in the middle of the river and reports of your fellow agents shooting at each other all over the city. What really is going on out there?"

"You've got your badge back on," Jack said to the wolf, ignoring what the large rhino had just asked. "I thought you were fired?"

"Do you really think that Chief Bogo would just toss us out at the orders of Bellwether?" Wolford scoffed. "He made sure that we escaped the predator round up and gave us the keys to those damn collars. Our jobs were to set up cells of resistance against city hall, if it came to that point."

"With Bellwether gone, what are the plans now?" Jack asked as he removed his paw from inside of the sling.

"You haven't answered my question," McHorn interjected. "What the hell is going on?"

"Just a little war within the Agency," the hare answered with a smile. "Hopefully the Director's plans will quickly quell it before it gets too far out of control." He picked up the black box and looked it over. _If this is the time traveling watch, maybe I can go back and save her?_ he mused. _End all of this before it even starts._ It was tempting, but first he had to get the damn thing open.

"Agent Longears, come over here and open this box for me please!" he called over to the vixen. "Let's see if this is what we came looking for?"

She holstered her gun as she came closer to him and whispered, "Are you sure you want to open this with everyone else here?"

"It doesn't matter anymore," Jack answered. "Just cut it open."

She picked up the knife and sliced into the black thick plastic to reveal a rich red velvet sack containing something inside. She gingerly untied the sack and slipped part of its contents onto the table. "It's only a police badge?" she disappointingly muttered in surprise. "I almost got killed for a damn police badge?"

Jack held the brass badge in his paw. It was shield shaped with the words OFFICER and then TRUST, INTEGRITY, and BRAVERY were stamped around a center star with a blue background. POLICE was engraved in a scroll design below the circle. He glanced at the two police officers, who were watching him, and then gave a thin smile when he realized that the badges they wore looked exactly like this one. "That figures," he bitterly sighed out. "We dig up a gave which is over ninety years old and this is all we find."

"That's just a ZPD badge," Wolford commented while he watched as the agent set the badge down. Jack picked up the bag and gently pulled out a uniform patch, it was also shield shaped with POLICE and the city's crest embroidered on it in gold. The patch perfectly matched the one McHorn wore on his uniform. There was also a brass name plate in the bag which simply read, J. HOPPS.

"Hopps?" the rhino grunted. "I knew a Hopps once, she was a bunny who got reassigned to traffic. You must be the agent who came looking for her at the station, I heard you actually took down Officer Rhinowitz!"

"That was two good paws ago," the agent chuckled. "He was clumsy and I was faster."

"So, now what do we do?" Agent Longears interjected. "We can't just sit around here! Don't we have a mission to complete?"

"Only if Armageddon succeeds," the hare sighed. "Otherwise, the two of us are running out of time."

* * *

 **1925**

Tommy Clawhauser sprinted along the side of the passing freight train, his speed allowed him to catch up to a box car which had a open side and desperately he leaped to grip the side of the door and to quickly pull himself inside. Settling back in the shadows, he watched as the town disappeared into the distance. It was far too dangerous for the private detective to have taken the trolley or a bus to nearby Zootopia, so his only choice was to hop a train like a hobo.

Leaning back against the wooden walls of the boxcar, he pondered his plan. Once in the city, he hoped that it would be easy to loose himself amongst the crowd until he could get to the police station and find Agent Nest. The squirrel was his only hope of bringing justice for the family of the late of Molly Greenhoofs and ending the career of the notorious gangster Al Catpone. The train rattled and bumped along the tracks, slowing down as they passed by a trackside settlement of tar paper and wood slat shacks. "Of course, that's Shantytown," he chuckled to himself as he watched it pass by.

The sound of honking and the blare of a siren caught his attention as he felt the train jerking to a stop. He peeked out to see that the track was blocked by police cars, not just any police cars, but by the Happy Town Police. Those coppers were way outside of their jurisdiction. "Damn!" he cursed as his ears flattened while he desperately looked around for a way to escape. He must have been seen by someone back in town. With a leap, he dove out of the still moving box car and rolled into a ditch alongside the tracks before crawling into a nearby cornfield.

He laid flat in the cornfield and watched as the police officers searched through the cars, looking inside and underneath. They were brawny rams and a couple of burly donkeys, all in police uniforms. The train's engineer, a chubby black bear, argued vainly with the tall bull in a brown suit, who was obviously in charge. Tommy was about to relax when he saw two timber wolves dressed in ZPD uniforms sniffing around the tracks, one of them paused at where he had landed and then look his way.

The thin cheetah took off running as fast as he could down the row of corn away from the police officers, but a wolf's howl told him that they had already found his trail. Speed was the one thing that he had over the coppers, he glanced back and saw several of the officers had loaded into their cars and that they were now roaring down the nearest dirt road in an attempt to cut him off and box him in.

He turned and shifted his direction, heading towards the not so distant water tower and the tall adobe structure of Shantytown, hoping that his scent would be at least be partly covered up by all of the coyotes and raccoons that lived there. He could hear howling still behind him as he stumbled panting onto the dirt streets of the makeshift town. Several coyotes stopped and watched him as he huffed and puffed, trying to rest. Cheetahs were fast runners, but they also had their limitations and were far from being great distance runners. Tommy had reached that limitation.

"Ho there little friend!" a voice called out and he looked up to see a coyote elder standing there dressed in a traditional, colorful stripped wool poncho. A long earring adorned with brightly polished stones beads and feathers, dangled from his right ear and a decoratively embroidered cloth medicine bag was hung around his neck. He was surrounded by several other male coyotes and raccoons, most of them were wearing the usual flame resistant twill coveralls that a steel worker would usually wear on the job. "Are you in trouble?"

"I'm…huff, huff…Just trying to catch my wind…huff, huff…before I leave," the cheetah panted out.

The sounds of sirens drew everyone's attention towards the road and at the two police cars and a black sedan racing towards the settlement. "It's the Happy Town Police, they have no jurisdiction here!" one of the coyotes commented.

"I called Sheriff Jones when I saw them stop the train just out of town and he's on his way here," a raccoon dressed in a blue suit added as he joined the crowd. "They must be after this guy! We will hold him inside the Meeting Lodge until the sheriff can sort this out." Tommy looked over and the small mammal had a deputy's star pinned to his suit jacket. "Get your guns, because no one but the sheriff gets the cat."

"We don't want violence here," the elder sadly said as he stood next to the deputy and watched the approaching cars.

"Sometimes we don't get what we want," the raccoon dryly replied as he loaded his small shotgun and looked down the road at the three cars. "We all know that by now, don't we?"

"Do as he says," the elder grunted. "Hurry and tell the others to take shelter…go now!"

Tommy felt rough paws grip his arms as two muscular coyotes yanked him towards the large adobe brick and tin roofed building. "I've got to get to Agent Nest with the Treasury Department in Zootopia!" he desperately cried out.

The two police cars ground to a halt on the roadside just down from where the young raccoon wearing the badge stood. The black Packherd touring car pulled up behind the blue and white police cars and the large burly bull stepped out of it, he tilted the bowler hat he was wearing with his hoof as he gave an amused look down at the much smaller deputy. A ram wearing the dark blue uniform of the Zootopia Police Department also exited the sedan and stood just behind the larger bull. He was quickly joined by the two mules and another ram, all wearing Happy Town Police uniforms. The mules were carrying wicked looking rifles and the ram had a pump action shotgun, the size of which made the deputy's look like a toy.

"We came for the cheetah!" the detective snorted, the bull had pulled back his suit jacket to reveal that he had a large pistol in a holster hanging at his waist. "Don't let this get ugly PELT!"

The raccoon didn't flinch at the bigoted name he had just been called by another so called officer of the law, but his grip tightened on his shotgun. Compared to the other weapons, his was just a small single shot bird gun and he knew he could not really hurt the others with it even if he tried. "I've called the sheriff and he's on his way over here," the deputy growled. "The cheetah stays under my custody until he gets here."

There were the sounds of footsteps behind him, but the raccoon refused to break eye contact with the larger bovine, his eyes narrowed within his black and grey so called bandit's mask. The large detective however frowned at the sight of the newcomers. "This is a peaceful place," the aged coyote elder called out. "We don't want any problems, but just to be left alone and so please just wait for the sheriff."

The detective looked at the dozen or so armed coyotes that had joined their elder, their shotguns and rifles were much larger than the raccoon's. He even gave a small smile because of few of them were only armed with old fashioned bows and arrows, but he knew that these too could kill. Behind him were the three rams and a couple of mules. The two wolves were now lazily watching from the sidelines, since their kind no longer were allowed to carry pistols after one of their fellow officers had his stolen by a rabbit doe. "Sure, we'll just wait for the sheriff to get here," he finally answered as he raised his paw. The officers lowered their guns and walked back to the cars.

Inside the building Tommy knew he was trapped, there was no way past the coyotes guarding the door and he also knew that he couldn't overpower the muscular steelworkers. He too would have to wait for the county sheriff and hope that he was an honest mammal. He pulled out his pocket watch to check the hour as he silently prayed to the gods that he was not running out of time.


	41. Betrayal & Acceptance

**Chapter 41: Betrayal & Acceptance **

* * *

_**The first rule of time travel is that any and all modifications made to the timeline result in Hitler winning World War II. Run over a hippy in 1968? Hitler Wins." -**_ colonel_green, ScansDaily (Godwin's Law of Time Travel).

 **Private Detective Tommy Clawhauser continues his seemingly inevitable path towards the future, while in the future Lisa and Jessie have a discussion.**

* * *

 **1925**

Although the sky above Shantytown was still sunny, with only wisps of white billowy clouds peppering the blue sky, storm clouds were gathering in the West. The coyotes could smell the scent of rain in the distance and hear the faint rumble of thunder. The closer sound of a car could be heard as it crunched its way down the dirt road into the small settlement of tar paper houses and tin roofed homes. The black sedan was nondescript with only a white removable plate hung on the door featuring a sliver star painted on it with the word SHERIFF stenciled below.

Sheriff Jones had finally arrived and after briefly speaking to his deputy, the black and white badger in the charcoal grey suit ambled down the dirt road towards where the muscular bull was patiently waiting. They spoke for a few minutes and the city detective was angrily waving a sheet of paper around as he argued with the smaller mammal. Finally the sheriff took the sheet of paper and after folding it up, shoved it into his shirt pocket before he returned to the line of heavily armed coyotes.

"Where's he at?" the badger asked in a troubled tone. The coyote elder nodded towards the tan colored adobe Meeting Lodge behind them.

His deputy watched as the bull and the other police officers climbed back into their cars and just drove away. The one thing that puzzled the raccoon the most was that, although the two wolves were ZPD officers, they left in a Happy Town patrol car instead of with the city detective. Something just didn't feel right with what was going on, but he couldn't figure it out. Quickly he turned and ran to catch up with the sheriff. "So, now what do we do?" he called out to the badger.

"Clawhauser is wanted for the disappearance of a Molly Greenhoofs from Deerborne County," the sheriff replied as he touched the folded paper in his pocket. "A warrant has been issued for his arrest and I'm taking him to Judge Myers."

"That doesn't make sense, why didn't the detective just show me a warrant?" the raccoon began to complain.

"I have no idea, but he had one and that's why I'm taking the cheetah to the judge," the sheriff softly sighed. "We'll let him figure this out."

"Do you need my help?" the raccoon offered.

"Nope Billy, I'm sure you've got better things to do," Sheriff Jones answered with a smile as he turned to face his deputy. "After all, you are only a part-timer and you've still got your store to run. So go on and give my love to Lucy and the kits and tell them that I'm sorry I won't be able to see them."

The raccoon watched the sheriff as he entered into the Lodge House and closed the door behind him. Billy hesitated before he pulled off his badge and slipped it into his pocket. Shouldering his shotgun, he walked down the street towards his store, but in the back of his mind there was still something wrong about all of this and it bothered him.

Tommy Clawhauser was leaning against the room's wall and looked over at the unformed badger as he entered into the room. "I need to get to Agent Nest with the Treasury Department…" he began to tell the sheriff.

"We'll that's nice, but first you and I are going to take a visit to the county courthouse and see Judge Wilber Meyers," the badger grunted as he pulled out his pair of pawcuffs. "Now behave and turn around so I can cuff you."

Tommy was slammed against the wall as his paws were yanked behind his back and the cuffs were slapped on tight. The sheriff then patted him down, pocketing his wallet and the camera. "You didn't have a gun?" The badger finally asked in surprise. "I thought all of you private eyes had rods?"

"I couldn't get a permit from the town judge, they don't issue carry permits to us preds," the cheetah answered. His eyes narrowed when he saw the sheriff now had his pocket watch and was looking it over before he slipped it to into his pocket. "That's special! My wife gave that to me."

"You'll get it all back when we're done." the sheriff answered with a nod as he pulled on the cheetah's arm. "Come on, we've got a bit of a drive ahead," he firmly growled. "Just don't give me a hard time! I'm having a bad day."

After getting Tommy into to the police car's backseat, he shackled the cheetah's legs. "We can't have you running off," the badger explained and then he pulled a muzzle over the cat's face. "Sorry, but this is standard protocol for a predator, it is policy."

They didn't talk while the sheriff drove them down the country dirt road westward towards the county seat. However, once they were out of sight of the settlement, the badger suddenly turned the car eastward towards the city.

"I thought you were taking me to the judge?" the cat mumbled the best he could through the muzzle. "Aren't we going the wrong direction?"

"Yeah, we're going to see the judge," the badger laughed. "Sure we are pal!"

Back at Shantytown, Billy had unloaded and locked away his shotgun into the gun rack, before he turned the store sign around to read OPEN.

"Hey Billy!" another raccoon panted out as he rushed into the store. "We were watching the whole thing from the field and did you know that the city copper drove down Sandstone Road towards the old bridge and not back to the road that goes to Zootopia?"

"That's odd," the deputy replied. "I don't like this at all! Tell Lucy I went after the sheriff." He grabbed up his badge and the shotgun, before he ran to his truck. After starting it up, he climbed into the truck and dove out of town until he got to Sandstone Road and then he turned to follow the detective's car towards the old bridge.

"You've got to get me to Agent Elliot Nest!" Tommy Clawhauser called out in panic as he vainly struggled with the handcuffs. His ears flattened as they crossed through an old wooden covered bridge which spanned a fast flowing river. On the other side of the bridge was parked the unmarked police sedan with the big bull in the brown suit leaning against it. "You sold me out!" he hissed.

"Nest the pest don't pay, but that city detective does," the Sheriff laughed. "He offered five C-notes for your mangy hide."

Tommy strained against the pawcuffs and the leg shackles, but to no avail. Finally, the sheriff parked the car, climbed out, and walked towards the large ZPD detective. "Just like I promised," the badger said as he put his paw out. "Pay up and he's yours."

The bull was reaching into his wallet, when the sound of another vehicle was heard and they turned to see a black truck heading down the dirt road.

"Damn, that's Billy!" the sheriff cursed. "Let me go talk to him." The badger in the grey suit walked towards the approaching truck.

"This is getting messy boss," the uniformed ram whispered over the detective. "I don't like this."

The raccoon was now standing next to the sheriff and the two were arguing.

"Damn it!" the bull cursed as he walked towards the two other officers. "I didn't want this!" The sheriff turned to look back at the tall detective, but before he could say anything, the bull pulled out his large revolver.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

He shot the badger dead. Billy twisted and began to desperately run towards the woods.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

The detective emptied his remaining rounds into the back of the fleeing raccoon. The deputy fell dead into the ditch on the side of the road.

History would record the deaths of Flowers County's beloved Sheriff Percy Jones and Deputy Sheriff Billy Pondstone as just another minor footnote about the violence brought on by Prohibition. Rural Flowers County, like Happy Town, would also one day disappear as it was swallowed up by the ever growing metropolis of Zootopia.

Tommy Clawhauser sat trapped in the backseat of the patrol car as he watched the murders and the cheetah knew that only a miracle could save him now.

* * *

 **Present Day**

Agent Lisa Longears sat at the table and toyed with the police badge that they had found buried in the grave of a rabbit known as Judy Hopps. With a sigh, she looked over at her fellow agent, a thin jackrabbit by the name of Jack Savage. "I wish I hadn't left my lap top at the cemetery," she huffed softly out loud. "I liked that laptop!" At first Jack thought the petite kit fox in the black suit was talking to him, but then realized she was actually complaining to the robotic spider named ADOLF, which was vigilantly pacing the table next to her.

The room was now full of mammals, members of Officer Wolford's canid group and police officers under the command of a stout rhino named Officer McHorn. Under the hare's watchful eyes, they were coordinating the rescue of the crewmembers from the shot down war blimp and organizing a series of defensive positions.

"We do need to get in touch with the other teams," Jack called over to Lisa. "You think that you could find Jessie and the two of you go get as many prepaid cell phones you can find in those mom and pop grocery stores down the street?"

"You can use my phone," Wolford offered.

The hare shook his head and smiled back at the wolf, "We need to use burner phones, so they can't trace them back to our location."

"I guess that makes sense," Wolford shrugged. All the mammals jumped at the sound of an explosion in the not too far distance.

The rhino glanced over at them. The big officer had his normal scowl on his face as he spoke with someone on his police radio. "That was some of the blimp's munitions going off," Officer McHorn finally called out. "Nothing to worry about, no one was hurt."

Lisa found Jessie in one of the upstairs rooms and he sat with a group of foxes who were diligently watching the streets outside. "Do want to take a walk?" she called out to the tod. He looked over at an older red fox, who nodded before he picked up a rifle and joined her in the hallway.

"Where are we going?" Jessie asked as they left the building. He watched as she warily looked around before stepping out on the sidewalk.

"Just doing some shopping for cell phones."

"You sure are jumpy."

She sighed as she looked down the street before answering, "I joined the Agency to save the world from the bad guys. No one told me that the bad guys would be some of my fellow agents. This is my first mission and who's trying to kill me? Not a foreign agent or some assassin working for a secret criminal gang out for world domination. No, they are members of the same agency I work for!"

"I think I'd change jobs."

"It's not that easy."

"You're right, but becoming a librarian is definitely not a career move for you!" he snickered with a grin.

"I could have figured out that card catalog, if I had time," she giggled.

"Seriously, is this really the way you want to live? Always having to look constantly over your shoulder to see who is coming after you?"

"I've always had to watch out for myself."

"What about your parents? What do they think about what you are doing?"

"They're dead, my parents died in a car crash when I was really young. Being a fox, I was placed immediately into an orphanage. Most foster homes won't take foxes and neither will any of the nicer orphanages."

"You must have had a rough childhood."

"You can't imagine what I had to do to survive, what I had to give up," Lisa answered as she stepped back into the shadows and drew her gun as she watched as a couple of wolves run down the street and into the hotel.

Jessie turned and looked into her eyes. The pretty vixen looked away as if she was ashamed of something. "You mean?" he finally asked her.

"Yeah…you do things just to survive."

"Sorry!"

"Don't feel bad for me. I learned early on that my body is just another tool to get what I needed or wanted."

Jessie stopped as he glanced at the sidewalk. "I figured that all this flirting really didn't mean anything to you and that you were just stringing me along," he finally sighed.

"Jessie, you're a nice guy and really cute…"

"But…there is always seems to be that word BUT when I'm told that."

"Yes, there has to be! It is dangerous being around me and Agent Savage, you know that by now. Think about what has happened? You had to kill someone, and almost got yourself killed, because of me and the day isn't even over."

The tod's ears folded flat upon his forehead and his tail wrapped close to his feet. "I didn't even think about it in that way…I really did kill someone!" he groaned out softly. "All I was thinking was that I wasn't going to let him kill you and besides I didn't know what was going to happen when I pressed that red button. I don't know that many vixens who drive around in motorcycles with machine guns."

The walked silently down the sidewalk until they reached a shop.

"Jessie, I really am sorry I got you into this mess," Lisa suddenly said as she looked over at him. "You seem like a great tod and I kind of wish we had met under different circumstances."

"Me too," Jessie sadly whispered. "Come on and let's get those phones." He reached for the door, but she suddenly grabbed his paw and pulled him into the abandoned building next door. "What's wrong?" he asked as he looked around outside.

"Nothing," she coyly replied as she pulled on his arm.

"Lisa, you don't have to do this!" he huskily objected.

"I know," she giggled before she kissed him.

They returned to the hotel about a half hour later and dumped several sacks of phones onto the table. "What took you so long?" Jack asked as he reached for one of the phones.

"We were just being careful and trying not to be seen," Lisa lied.

Wolford turned and sniffed, the wolf's nose knew better.

* * *

 **It wasn't unusual for rural police departments to use private vehicles during the 1920's, special plates were manufactured that could hook onto the outside of the car's doors to identify it as police car. There were also special plates which could be attached to the front grill and to the trunk.**

 **The wearing of uniforms by rural county sheriffs was also uncommon, hence Sheriff Jones was in a suit and not a police officer's uniform. The employment of part-time deputies was a common practice and still is in many counties.**

 **The sheriff's first name of Percy and the county's name of Flowers is a tribute to the "King of the Moonshiners", Joshua "Percy" Flowers of Johnston County, NC. Mister Flowers was indicted ten times by federal grand juries and eighteen times by local and state juries, but spent very little time in jail. He was even locally considered a "Robin Hood" like figure, because of his donations to charities and his blatant disregard for an unpopular law.**


	42. Decisions

**Chapter 42: Decisions**

* * *

" _ **Time travel is theoretically impossible, but I wouldn't want to give it up as a plot gimmick."**_ \- Isaac Asimov

 **Tommy is in big trouble! Our heroes return to Wilde Times Billiards Hall to check on Nick's great-grandfather and they watch as the Snapper Gang argues over how to retaliate against Al Catpone, before Piberius makes a decision.**

* * *

 **1925**

The thin cheetah struggled against his shackles as he sat trapped in the back of the black sedan. Tommy Clawhauser stared in helpless astonishment as the big bull in the brown suit, slowly emptied the spent shells from his large deadly looking pistol and calmly reloaded. The body of the slain county sheriff lay bleeding below his hoofs and that of the deputy was sprawled lifeless in the nearby roadside ditch.

"So, now what do we do?" a ram in the dark blue uniform of the Zootopia city police asked as he leaned against their black unmarked police car. His eyes moved from the bull and towards the cheetah in the other car. "We have a witness."

"He doesn't matter," the massive police detective snorted as he pushed his brown bowler back between his two curved horns. "Just help me load these two stiffs into the truck and we'll shove the whole lot into the river. The coming storm should wash away any traces of blood, so it'll take time for them to find them in the river."

"What about the sheriff's car?" the ram asked as he picked up the dead raccoon and with a grunt, tossed him into the truck. "I'd bet we could get a quite a few C-notes for that beauty on the market upstate."

"Nope it goes into the river too!" the bull snapped as he shoved the bloody corpse of the badger into the truck's cab, it landed on top of the dead raccoon. "Come on and help me shove!"

Tommy watched as they rolled the truck to the edge of the river's ravine and then with a mighty shove, toppled it down the steep embankment to splash into the deep fast flowing river below. It quickly sank out of view. His ear's flattened atop his head when he realized that the camera, still containing the undeveloped photos proving poor Molly Greenhoofs' tragic fate, along with his wallet and his prized pocket watch had also disappeared into the river.

The sound of crunching gravel drew his attention back to the approaching ram and the cheetah struggled with his bonds once again. "You're lucky flatfoot that the boss wants you alive for now," the police officer darkly chuckled. "If I had it my way, your mangy hide would be joining the others in the river. Come on let's get going!"

As the ram leaned into the car and undid the leg shackles, Tommy spit out a hiss as he lashed out with his now freed legs and kicked the ram below his belt.

"Shit!" the cop groaned as he fell back and doubled over from the pain caused by the cat's powerful kick.

Tommy staggered out of the car and turned to run, but just as he started to sprint away there was a sound.

Blam!

The bullet impacted next to his right foot paw and he hesitated as he turned to face the bull. "Clawhauser, if you take one more step towards those woods I'll drop you right now!" the corrupt police detective snorted. "You know I will do it!"

"I thought your boss wanted me alive," Tommy challenged.

"He'd understand if I had to kill you now," the bull answered with a shrug. "But you are worth more alive than dead."

The cat lowered his head as he felt the rough hoofs of the ram grab his arm and yank him towards the car. The last thing he remembered before ram's hard hoof slammed into his face and darkness over took him, was the police officer's curses and the bull's evil laugh.

* * *

Nick leaned wearily against the back Furred Model TT truck as he watched the two identical looking rabbit does talking, the fox in the brown checkered suit was still sore and in some pain from the beating he had suffered at the hoofs of the police just a few evenings ago. Under his reddish orange fur, he knew that he was still black and blue. All he wanted to do was just go and hide, to curl up someplace safe and sleep until he awoke from this nightmare. "Nightmare…ha!" he softly chuckled.

"What?" the black and white furred rabbit buck asked as he looked back at the fox. "I didn't catch that, were you talking to me?"

"Nope, just being a fox!" Nick chuckled. "I was talking to myself."

Rubin gave him a thin smile before he turned back to watch as two other red foxes played catch with a young bobcat kitten. The youngster's laughter only made the buck sadder because they had yet to tell the poor child the truth about his parent's probable murder by corrupt coppers. His ears flicked when he heard both of the does giggling and he blushed because he realized that they were now looking his way.

"Hey Ears, have you ever stolen a car?" Nick called out.

"Don't call me Ears, fox!" Rubin huffed back as he turned to face the larger mammal. "We took Zach and Zeke's family truck once, their pa wasn't very happy with us when we got back. Zach pulled some wires free and managed to start it that way."

"It's called hot wiring a car," Nick chuckled back.

"There wasn't anything hot? So why would you call it that?"

"The wires were hot…you know live with electricity?"

"That makes no sense whatsoever?"

"Geeze, how did we ever make it to the Twenty-First Century with yahoos like you?" Nick scoffed as he shook his head.

Rubin looked over at the two female rabbits and then back at the fox. "How long have you been in love with Judy?" he suddenly asked.

Nick was caught off guard for a moment. "Look, I know it's weird that we both love her, but your Judy is not my Judy."

"She saved me," Rubin confessed. "We met at the fair and I was being bullied. She charged to my rescue and I swear it was love at first sight."

"Yeah, Carrots has a knack of saving others," Nick fondly replied. "She saved me from my cynical self a while back. We became friends and then best friends, before we finally fell in love with each other."

"So a fox in love with a rabbit, is that something which is accepted in the future?"

"Hell no! You'd think after all the gains which we predators will make during the years after the civil rights movement, that we'd be accepted. I'm not saying that there aren't others who really believe in equality and acceptance, it's just that the future is still full of bigots and speciesist. Then there are the condescending hypocrites who run around trying to justify their own self-worth by acting like they are your so called buddy. Just you wait until the internet is created! If you thought you were being bullied before, it's scary what these so called self-proclaimed armchair justice warriors will do to someone's life on the internet!"

"That sounds scary!"

"Well, I've had enough standing around!" Nick called out to everyone. "I'm heading back to Wilde Times to make sure my great-grandfather is okay, I guess the fact that I'm still here means that they must not have killed him?"

"I hate to break this to you Slick, but your grandfather is already born," Judy called back as she joined him by the truck. "That means that you won't just disappear, since he is still alive. But you are right in that we should go back and check on him."

When they arrived back at Wilde Times Billiards, the street was full of wolves and foxes angrily milling around. The crowd briefly glanced at the truck full of foxes, but then they looked at the three rabbits with suspicion.

"What's going on?" Nick asked as he wove his way through the crowd.

"Catpone's mob shot the place up and the gang leaders are inside planning what to do about it," a wolf growled out.

"Nick?" a familiar voice called out and he looked over to see Richard standing by the open door. The fox was wrapped in a wool blanket and Nick caught the scent of wet fur when Richard firmly gripped his shoulders. "You're safe! We thought for sure that they caught you!"

"You know how sneaky we foxes can be!" Nick answered with a grin. "What happened to you?"

"I jumped in the river and swam away from the gangsters," Richard laughed. "Everyone knows that most cats hate water!"

Judy finally caught up to the two foxes and she put her paw on Nick's arm as she looked up at Richard. There were the sounds of arguing inside. "What did the cops say about the shooting?" she tentatively asked.

"Not much before they hauled off the gangster's car," Frank answered as he brought his brother a glass of clear liquid, which gave off a rather clinical smell. "Here, this will warm your insides."

Richard took a sip before he finally wheezed out, "Cut this stuff, it is way too strong and tastes more like rubbing alcohol than gin. We don't want to kill someone or their liver." He tossed the rest of the drink onto the street.

"What do you mean by not much?" Judy asked as she looked down at the puddle of booze and then back inside of the building. "Surely they filled out a criminal complaint, there were witnesses."

"The detective said that there were no creditable witnesses," Frank answered with a shrug of his shoulder. "I think his exact words were… _You think I'm gonna believe a fox?"_

"Where have I heard that before?" Nick grunted as he smirked at the rabbit doe next to him. Judy's ears drooped down her back because she realized that was exactly what Chief Bogo had said about Nick when they first met on that jungle platform.

"The detective even threatened to write me a citation for discharging fire arms within the town!" Frank angrily added as he waved his paw at the mess inside. "He accused me of shooting up my own wall! Then they took Mabel's shotgun away from her too! It took two of the guys to keep her from whacking the fathead with her broom."

Judy glanced back inside and the portly grey vixen was once again sweeping the floor, just like nothing had happened.

"Friends! Friends!" a firm voice called out from inside. "Please listen to me!" Nick looked inside and saw Piberius holding his paws in the air. The fox was not wearing his robes but was dressed fashionable medium blue silk suit with wide lapels. He almost looked like one of those televangelists in the future, who would talk about the gods while they pleaded for your money. "Calm down and listen!"

"Piberius is trying to talk down the Snappers, he is trying to keep them from doing something rash," Richard sighed out with concern as he pulled his blanket closer around him. "They're a tough lot, but they are woefully outgunned."

"An eye for an eye…a tooth for a tooth…a claw for a claw!" a rough looking wolf growled out. "They attacked us and now we need to teach Catpone not to come into our territory again!"

"You do know that once the violence starts, it's going to spill into the neighborhoods!" a deep voice challenged the wolf. Benny was pacing back and forth on the bar top. The small fennec fox in the brown suit waved his cheap cigar as he spoke. "Catpone has more guys and more guns. He also has the coppers on his side too. There is no way we could win an outright war!"

"Then let's hit him where it hurts!" a red fox yelled back. "We'll burn down his hotel or the dance hall!"

"A fire like that could destroy the whole downtown!" someone protested.

"They came after us, they need to pay!" another voice called out.

"Stop this!" Piberius shouted out as he hopped onto a pool table and looked down at the others. "Billy, if we burn downtown, where are we going to find jobs? How many of you work in that dance hall or the stores nearby, not to mention the Cottonmouth Club. All those rich prey patrons will run away from here and never bring their money back. How many of you make your living from their business?"

"We have to do something!" another fox angrily shouted.

"Jeff, your wife just gave birth a litter of six kits!" Piberius called back. "What would happen to them if you were killed? Do you really want your children to grow up without a father like you did?"

"They attacked Wilde's place!" the rough looking wolf snapped back. "This is our territory and we must teach them a lesson, we should kill them all!"

"I swear by all the gods, that no one is going to die tonight!" the preacher finally proclaimed in an evangelistic tone as he stood up straight and raised his right paw towards the ceiling, as if invoking the very gods themselves. "Those sinners came for me, so let them have me!"

"No!" everyone cried out as the charismatic fox leaped off the table and marched towards the door.

"It is the will of the gods that I must face this evil. Like the Great Lamb, who entered into the lion's den, I must face down Catpone and his goons within the very heart of his wicked empire!" The preacher called out as he left the building.

"I'm worried brother," Frank called over to Richard. "I think Piberius is finally starting to believe what he is preaching! We better stop him before he gets himself hurt!"

"He'll be fine," Richard chuckled. "He handed Benny a note as he left, telling him to call the newspapers."

"Nick?" Judy asked as she grabbed his arm again. "What's going to happen?"

"If history stays true to course, Piberius is going to confront Catpone again," the fox said in a worried tone. "He will broker another truce between the gangs tonight and there will be peace for now."

"You sound concerned?" she asked as she squeezed his paw.

"He will also recruit Catpone's support for unionizing the factories and this will ultimately lead to the riot," Nick sighed out.

* * *

 **A C-note is slang for a one hundred dollars bill.**

 **Alcohol poisoning was not uncommon during Prohibition and there have been rumors that the government did purposely add poisonous substances to commercial legal alcohol to render it undrinkable, causing hundreds of deaths. This was done on commercially available "denatured" alcohol based products, such as paint thinner, by the addition of methyl alcohol or as it was commonly called, wood alcohol.**


	43. Purification

**Chapter 43: Purification**

* * *

" _ **Don't do anything. Don't touch anything. Sci-fi rule number 1: you start messing with the past, you end up with monkeys ruling the future."**_ _\- Cyborg, Teen Titans._

 **Both Tommy Clawhauser and Piberius continue their respective paths towards their final fates.**

* * *

 **1925**

Tommy Clawhauser's jaw ached and he whimpered softly as he weakly opened his eyes. The ram's blow had pushed the hard metal muzzle deep into his face and now blood was dripping down onto his shirt and the seat below him. Something was loose within his mouth and he spit it out onto the car's floorboard, he grimaced when he realized it was one of his bottom teeth. "Well lookie Gary, the pelt is finally awake!" the car's driver called to his companion. The driver was the uniformed ram who had struck him earlier and his partner was a big muscular bull in a brown suit.

"Welcome to Zootopia!" the large bull named Gary sneered.

Tommy glanced out of the car's windows and saw that this was not exactly the best part of the city. The buildings around them were abandoned and vacant, all having been slated to be demolished and replaced with more modern, sleeker edifices.

"Hey, do you think that the boss will sink him in concrete?" the ram cheerfully piped up. "You know, like he did that union guy…what was his name?"

"I don't know or care," the bull answered. "But he was a rat, so it didn't take too much of the stuff to cover him up. That loser is now sealed in the cornerstone of the new ball stadium."

The cheetah strained against his bonds, he was no longer shackled but now bound with heavy ropes. "You know boy, you should have known your place," the bull continued after a few moments of silence. "All of you damn cats, Catpone included, are going to one day be put into your proper place."

"I'll let him know that you hold him in such high regard when we meet," Tommy mumbled out through the muzzle and his swollen lips. "I'm sure that he will love to talk with you about how much you enjoy working for him."

"Catpone!" Gary laughed out. "I don't work for that flea bitten scratcher!"

"You don't?" Tommy asked in confusion. "Then who do you work for? Machine Gun Mallory? The Brewery Boys? The Northern Mafia?"

The bull didn't answer, but just laughed.

They drove across a rubble strew lot and into a half demolished building. With wings flapping at the sight of the car, pigeons took flight into the now grey skies above the city. Tommy could see the Packherd Building was not too far away and the tall, but still unfinished sky scraper, towered above them as its steel beams seemed to reach high into the darkening skies above. The not too distant sounds of traffic and the din of construction filled the early afternoon.

After parking, the bull yanked the cheetah out of the car and unceremoniously dragged him across the ground towards a backroom. Inside the still intact room, a portly ram in an expensive dark blue wool three piece suit sat in an old wooden chair as he smoked a pipe and Tommy immediately recognized him as being Sal Woolstein, the owner of the largest textile mill in Happy Town. The two had crossed paths before when Tommy had done some work for the ram's last wife, he had provided her divorce lawyer with photos of the decadent ram's infidelities.

"Clawhauser!" Sal laughed out as he blew a puff of smoke into the air above his well-polished curled horns. "It's so good to see you again."

With a mighty pull, the cheetah was yanked muzzle first into the dirt and dust of the broken concrete floor. Slowly Tommy struggled to his knees and attempted to stand up to face the ram, but Gary pushed him back down. "So what is this all about Woolstein?" he finally growled out. "Is this revenge for your divorce?"

Sal laughed as he took another pull from his pipe and nodded at the uniformed ram, who was now leaning against one of the room's steel columns. The police officer came over and cuffed the cheetah on the back of his head, sending him sprawling again. He viciously kicked the helpless cat as he ordered, "Show some respect cat, his name is MISTER Woolstein!"

"Enough!" Sal called out and the other ram stepped back away from the groaning cheetah. "Yeah, you cost me a bundle. You and that two bit lawyer of hers, but he got his due already. Too bad his brakes gave out and he couldn't stop in time before that truck hit his car? Boom! I heard that it was a real mess!" Turning to the detective, he asked the bull, "How far did that gasoline truck drag that poor car before it exploded?"

"Who cares, but it caused quite a fire. It shut down Jefferson and Main for hours before the fire department could get it out," Gary chuckled. "He was cooked quite crispy by the time they recovered his body."

"So you can see that those who cross me often have bad luck," Sal laughed back. "Let me ask you this Clawhauser, how is your luck holding up today?"

"Better than that of the sheriff and his deputy, the ones your two goons gunned down earlier," Tommy mumbled through his muzzle.

"You killed someone!" Sal yelled out in anger as he stood up and faced the bull. "I told you to get me Clawhauser, not to kill anyone! You did cover up your tracks?"

"Sure we…" Gary began, but the cat's laughter cut him off.

"You think you covered your tracks?" the cheetah chuckled as he looked up at the bull. "Shantytown is full of coyotes and they are some of the best wilderness trackers around, don't you think that they haven't already found the bodies yet? Even dumping them in that river, they'll find them. The deputy was a raccoon, he was one of their community and they will track you down to have their revenge on you and anyone who hired you!"

"What do you mean?" Sal quickly baahed out.

"You think this fat head isn't going to talk when they take those knives of theirs to his hide?" Tommy continued. "His kind is all bluster and bravado, but once caught he will sing like a canary."

"No, I wouldn't do that!" the huge detective snorted out as he kicked at the knelling cheetah. "He lies!"

"Of course he will, he's a just a bully," Tommy continued. "You don't think he won't try to buy his way out of this? Come on Mister Woolstein, you've seen his kind in the business world…all promises…all excuses...all intimidation...but, you know that they always crumble when they lose."

"No!" Gary hollered in rage as he stamped down of the cheetah's tail.

The pain shot up Tommy's tail and he immediately knew that the huge hoof must have broken it. "Sure you will," he gasped out. "It's in your nature."

Woolstein looked over at his fellow ram, who had turned to face the larger detective. The police officer's hoof was now resting on the pistol he wore in his gun belt. Tommy's eyes narrowed as he watched the uniformed ram begin to pull his pistol, but the bull was faster.

Blam! Blam!

The ram was tossed back by the bullets impact. Tommy watched as Woolstein turned to run away in panic.

Blam! Blam! Blam!

The ram in the expensive suit also fell to the ground, landing face first onto the grimy ground. Blood seeped from under him, staining the concrete. The gun's discharge echoed through the room, but Tommy was sure that it could not have been heard beyond the building's site because of all the construction noise.

"So, I've still got one round in the chamber," Gary snorted in anger. "No witnesses!"

Tommy felt the pistol's hot barrel pressed against the side of his head and he closed his eyes as he frantically searched for a way out of his predicament. "You never got paid, did you?" the cheetah urgently cried out. "You never made a penny after doing this… at least not yet!"

"What do you mean?" the detective asked as he lifted his gun away from the cat's head. The brute slapped the cheetah alongside his head driving the muzzle into this mouth again.

"Think about what you have done," Tommy mumbled as he stared with malice at the perplexed looking detective who towered over him. "You've killed three coppers, including your partner over there."

"That was in self-defense!" Gary protested. The cheetah recognized fear was now in the detective's voice.

"Of course it was, but do you think a jury will believe your word alone. Especially after those coyotes come forward with the sheriff and his deputy's bodies."

"Yeah, I can handle that!"

"Sure you can pal, but what about Woolstein? You gunned him down in the back."

"Yeah, like I said I can handle that!"

"I hope you're good with disposing of the bodies, because he isn't a cat like me. No, he's got money, connections, and power. A rich prey guy like that will have everyone looking for him and when they find him, they will hunt down his killer."

The bull began pacing, "Damn!" he cursed before he turned towards the fallen cheetah. "Well you won't talk, that's for sure."

"You kill me and you'll miss out on your last chance to make a lot of money. Catpone is paying a nice reward for my hide, enough for you to hightail it out of the city and retire someplace a little safer."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, this way I'll get to live at least a little longer," Tommy truthfully answered. "Who knows, maybe he'll let me live? At least you'll have the cash and will be long gone by then."

"That might just work!" Gary snorted out as he looked around at the two dead bodies. "Yeah, that might just work." Grabbing the cheetah by his arm, he hauled the inert cat through the rubble and tossed him into the back of the unmarked patrol car.

"So how are you going to clean up your mess?" Tommy asked as he tried to settle himself more comfortably in the car. He was attempting not to let his mangled tail touch anything because of the pain.

"This is a demo site and they've cut everything going in. No power, no gas, and most importantly no water," Gary laughed. "Did you know that radio preacher Piberius says that faith purifies everything?" Tommy's eyes widened when he saw that the big detective had pulled out a book of matches from his pocket. "That pelt preacher is wrong. It's fire that purifies everything!"

* * *

The Right Reverend Piberius stared at the microphone in front of him as he remembered his earlier meeting with the dreaded gangster Al Catpone.

It was just a few hours ago when he had sat across the table from Catpone and watched as the gangster sipped on his drink. "They call it a Gin Rickey," the cat chuckled as he took another sip of his illicit drink. "I think it's named after some damn political lobbyist, but it is refreshing. Ah, but you speak of abstaining in your broadcasts do you not? "

"You know I do," the red fox in the fancy blue silk suit answered. He tried not to lick his lips as he watched the jaguar take another sip.

"I'm sorry! I really should at least offer you something else to drink. Perhaps you would like some soda or maybe some lemonade."

"You sent your guys into the wrong side of town looking for me. So let's get the point and tell me what do you want?"

"What do I want? I want to be left alone to make money, that's all I asking. All I ever did was sell beer and whiskey. All I ever did was supply a demand that was pretty popular. Why is it that the very guys that make my trade good, are the ones that yell the loudest about me."

"We both know that things are more complicated than that, Mister Catpone."

"Ah, complicated…I hate that word. Why can't things be easy around here? Look, you leave me alone and I will leave you alone."

"Then don't go kitnapping pretty rabbits off of Main Street."

"She wasn't kitnapped, she was invited."

"That's not the story I was told."

"You embarrassed me this morning, charging into my place like that and causing a ruckus. I can understand your attacking me on the radio, but to come in here and challenge me like that was unacceptable." Catpone hesitated as he looked at the drink in his paw. Piberius knew the gangster wasn't finished and silently waited for the cat to continue. "But that's now in the past, you and I have a common interest," he finally added.

"And what would that be?"

"First, you need sinners like me to rail against. Yeah, I know how you make your money and its a great scam. Second, we both want the factories to unionize."

"Why do you care about the mill workers?"

"It's real simple, if you think about it. The more money that the workers have, means the more that they will spend. I've got what they want, the booze, gambling, and my girls. I'm sick of all those hotty toddy rich fools who come here from the city, demanding to be treated like royalty while flashing their cash and all the time looking down on us preds."

"What about the Snappers? You let your boys invade their territory and they want revenge."

"Let the Snappers know that I'm sorry that my guys made a mistake and it won't happen again. Assure them that I will honor our agreement and I will pay to clean up Wilde's place too."

"I'll let them know, but they may need more than that."

"So what do they want?"

"Give up all your territory this side of the rail tracks, except for Main Street of course."

"Why not? I don't make much in those areas anyways. As long as they leave my operations on Main Street alone, we have a deal."

Hours later, the red fox sighed a he leaned back and looked at the microphone again. A gang war had been averted and he had found a hidden ally in his call for unionization. He had walked back from his meeting earlier that afternoon in the rain, letting it soak through his expensive suit and into his fur as he trudged through the puddles. He had often preached that faith can purify your soul, like water can your body. After all the years of using religion as a way to hustle others, he now realized that he was wrong in doing so and he truly prayed that the gods would forgive him and give him a small chance to redeem himself. Leaning forward, he began his nightly radio show and tonight he would preach only from his heart. When he started, he didn't realize that it would be his greatest sermon yet.

Across town, Al Catpone puffed on his cigar as he listened to the charismatic preacher's words over the radio and smiled, it had been a good day. He had sent his brother Frankie to the city to meet with a police detective who claimed to have Tommy Clawhauser. There was news from the town police that Sal Woolstein, the only mill owner who could have derailed all his plans, had gone missing. Now that damned fox Piberius was playing right into his paws. Piece by piece, his plan was neatly falling into place.

* * *

 **Catpone's "All I ever did was" statement is based on an actual quote by the infamous gangster Al Capone: "All I ever did was sell beer and whiskey to our best people. All I ever did was supply a demand that was pretty popular. Why, the very guys that make my trade good are the ones that yell the loudest about me. Some of the leading judges use the stuff."**

 **A Gin Ricky is named after a Democratic lobbyist named Colonel Joe Rickey and was invented by George A. Williamson, the bartender at Shoomaker's bar in Washington DC during in the 1880s.** **It was one of the popular cocktail drinks during Prohibition and was served at the Cotton Club in Harlem. You could have one as you ate your $3.00 "Dinner de lux" while listening to Duke Ellington and his orchestra.**


	44. Hotwire a Car?

**Chapter 44: Hotwire a Car?**

* * *

" _ **Staleek, he can wrap time 'round his little finger, the hoodoo-voodoo is not gonna work!"**_ \- John Crichton on Einstein, _Farscape._

 **The gang has to make a decision about what to do with little Ricky. In the future, Agent Savage and Agent Longears steal a police car.**

* * *

 **1925**

"Well Carrots, what's the game plan now?" Nick asked Judy, but the rabbit doe wasn't paying any attention to him. Instead, she was watching Miss Judy and Rubin kissing by the truck. The fox looked with interest at the rabbit holding his paw and he could swear that Judy was envious of the other rabbit doe. "So what's all this about?" he finally asked as he squeezed her paw.

Judy's head snapped up and she blushed with embarrassment as she looked up into the fox's emerald eyes, before she answered. "It's complicated, I have feelings…they aren't mine, but hers…still…"

"Aw, is my bunny-wunny jealous of herself?" the fox said in a playful tone. Leaning over, he softly raised her muzzle upwards as he pulled her closer with his other paw. "Maybe we should give her something to be jealous of too?" Before she could respond, he leaned in and gave her a passionate kiss.

All the other foxes and wolves surrounding them grew so silent that you could have heard a pin drop. Both the rabbit and fox looked around to see that everyone was now staring at them in disbelief. Then the murmurers began, "Did you see that?...prey chaser…pred chaser…just wrong..." were some of the comments that the others around them were saying.

"Geez louise, ain't any of you losers ever seen two mammals in love before?" a deep voice growled out. Nick glanced into the billiards hall and saw that the fennec fox who had spoke was standing on the bar puffing on his cigar while he looked at the two of them. "It's starting to rain, so some of you idiots help Frank get the door covered up before we get water on the floors in here. Get your lazy tails moving…NOW!" As if to give emphases to Benny's stern command, a deep loud rumble of thunder sent everyone scrambling.

Drizzle fell upon the fox and rabbit as they ran towards the truck, Ezekiel and Zachariah were frantically pulling a rather ratty looking wax impregnated canvas tarp over the truck bed to form a small tent like structure in an attempt to try to keep everyone dry. Rubin joined them in tying down the tarp before he helped Miss Judy hop into the back next to Ricky, the small bobcat kitten shifted over to make more room for everyone else. Nick lifted Judy up and into the tent and then crawled inside just as the rain began to fall in earnest. The makeshift shelter was snug and slightly leaked, but everyone fit inside. Nick sniffed and the small confines smelled like rain, male fox musk, rabbits, and old hay.

"Nick suggested we get another car," Rubin told the two rabbit does, he gave the fox a very rabbit like smirk as he told on him. "He said we can...what exactly was it that you said? Oh yes, hotwire a car!"

Both of female rabbits gave Nick an aggravated look. "We are not…" Judy began to say.

"…going to steal a car!" Miss Judy finished for her.

"It is against the law," Rubin quickly added.

"Now I've got all three rabbits doing it to me!" Nick groaned out before chuckling. "It's like a bunny trio, Rubin and the Thumpers or something. I'd have you three sing me a song, but Carrots can't carry a tune and my guess is that Miss Judy can't either."

"He can be rather aggravating sometimes..." Miss Judy said to Judy and the other rabbit nodded.

"...in a charming manner," Judy finished as she winked at Nick.

"Ah reckon ya gonna tell us why ya think thar's a reason we need a nother car?" Ezekiel asked as he looked over at Nick. "Ya ain't dumpin us, we go whar Rubin goes."

"Look, we can't keep dragging Ricky around like this," Rubin sighed. "I need you two to take him to his kin folk in the Burrows."

"Ain't gonna happen," Zachariah snapped. "We promised yer pa that we'd up a keep an eye on ya."

"What about my daddy and mommy?" Ricky quickly asked as he looked frantically at the foxes and then Miss Judy. "Why can't I go home?"

Ezekiel looked over at Miss Judy, before he put a paw on the little kittens shoulder. "Come on lil feller, let's crawl inta the front an let the growed up folks talk."

"I should…" Miss Judy began to object. But the muscular country fox just shook his head no as he slipped past them and stepped into the rain before opening the truck's door. The kitten had followed him and crawled into the passenger's seat next to Ezekiel.

Judy looked at Miss Judy as they listened to the fox explain to the kitten what had happened to his parents, there where the inevitable outburst of frantic denial, before the grim reality finally sank into the young cat's mind, and then came the soul retching sounds of a child sobbing. Nick had tears in his eyes as he watched as Ezekiel hugged Ricky, who clung to the fox in desperation.

"Ah reckon he needs to get ta his kin folk," Zachariah softly muttered as he wiped his eyes with the back of his paw.

They all sat there and listened to the kitten crying.

"Damn this world sucks sometimes," Nick finally sighed. "No one warned me that as a cop, I had to break things like the death of a parent to a child."

"Or the death of a child to a parent," Judy added. "It's never easy."

"Death never is…" Miss Judy sighed as she leaned back into Rubin's arms for comfort as she too wiped her eyes.

"Take us ta the station and we kin take the train home," Zachariah finally muttered out. "Ah reckon the lil feller needs us round him ta get through this. We'll get him to his kin, then we're a gonna come back for ya'll!"

* * *

 **Present day**

Lisa leaned back in a chair and watched as Agent Jack Savage made a phone call to someone. She looked over at the handsome grey fox and tried not to blush as she watched Jessie happily talking to another fox. _"Do you know why we select only agents who have no family for this department?"_ she remembered the stout walrus asking her during her interview to be a field agent. __"Because they can't use family to compromise you, it's as simple as that. No one they can threaten you with and get at to make you do what they want, to get you to betray the Agency."_ _The vixen shifted in her seat as she reflected on what he had told her, it just now occurred to her that he had specifically spoke of betraying the Agency and not their country. Now this Agency was in the middle of a civil war and she was caught up in the whole damned thing.

"Right!" Jack laughed as he hung up the phone and quickly yanked the backside of it open so he could pull out the sim card and quickly destroy it. She knew that he did that so they could not trace it back to where they were hiding.

"So, what did your friend say?" she asked as she leaned forward closer to the other agent.

"Things are falling apart faster than I thought they would," Jack replied with a smile. "The director has managed to gain control of the Agency's headquarters in Langley and word of the attempted coup has already leaked out to the public."

"I wouldn't exactly use the word leaked!" Wolford chuckled as he looked over at Jack with an amused grin. "A war blimp shot down over the city and that hotel you were staying at is now more or less gone. Between your guys shooting at each other inside of it and then the military moving in with tanks at the President's direct order, there isn't much of the place left. There was also a firefight inside the Federal Building downtown and everyone with your Agency is now being arrested by the military police or by federal marshals."

"That means there are also now warrants issued for both you and Agent Longears," Officer McHorn snorted out.

Jack tensed up and Lisa began to reach for her pistol, but the hare grabbed her arm and shook his head no. "Then we place ourselves into your custody officer, are you going to take us in?" he asked.

The rhino looked around at the activity around him and gave the agent a thin smile. "Then consider yourself under house arrest," he answered with a shrug. "For some reason, I think letting you have access to those phones is more important than hauling your tail down to the police station."

"What about their weapons?" Wolford asked as he stood up.

"What weapons?" the rhino snorted as he turned his back to the two agents.

Lisa slightly relaxed again, although she tried to keep a close eye on everyone in the room. ADOLF scuttled across the table and up her arm, settling itself back on her shoulder.

Jack couldn't help but smile when he noticed that the vixen's eyes kept wandering back towards the grey fox tod. He picked up another phone and after a few moments of searching his own memory, he dialed another number.

Lisa's ears perked up as she heard a familiar voice on the phone. "Is that Agent Minos?" she asked, but the hare ignored her as he kept talking.

Jack almost jumped out of his chair as he spoke with the cat, something had upset him, "He's where? …Yes, I can get there…I'll figure that out…you'll send backup when you are able…be careful old friend." He slammed the phone down and broke it open to destroy the sim card.

"So what did Minos tell you?"

"We've got to get going, an old friend needs my help."

"You think that they will just let us walk out of here?"

"Who says we plan to stop you," McHorn snorted again. "Warrant or no warrant, my gut says to trust you and so get going before I decide it's just indigestion."

Jack stood up and offered his paw to the much larger rhino, who just shook his head as he turned to look the other direction. "Get going Agent Savage before I change my mind!" he added as he walked over towards Wolford. The wolf just flipped him a salute and returned to his phone.

"Hey, you need me to come with you?" Jessie called out as he desperately raced over towards Lisa.

"Oh honey, you need to stay here," she answered as she stepped slightly back. "It was fun, but you know that there can't be a future with me?"

He gave her a hurt look as he watched her turn and walk away, following the jackrabbit in the black suit out of the room.

"Damn!" Jack heard her choke out a curse as she absentmindedly reached up and seemingly petted ADOLF as if it was alive. "Maybe I really should have become a librarian instead of a agent?"

They made their way to where she had parked her motorcycle earlier and there were now several assorted vehicles in the makeshift garage. Lisa noticed that Jack had stopped next to a large police SUV and was looking it over. "We're going to need something a bit larger than your bike," he said as he awkwardly fiddled with his belt. Finally he pulled a small set of picks from inside the buckle. "Have you ever hotwired a police car before Agent Longears?"

"No bike?" Lisa said as she looked over at her motorcycle and frowned. "I was just getting to like that thing. Pulling the keys from her pocket she walked over and set them inside of the sidecar and then found a sheet of paper. She quickly wrote a note and set that next to the keys.

"What did you write?" Jack asked, he tried to keep his nose from twitching with interest as he watched her.

"Oh, just a note for Jessie to keep my chopper until I come back for it someday," she answered as she returned to where the jackrabbit was waiting. "I also warned him not to press the other button. He's too cute to get into trouble for blowing up something accidentally."

"Come on let's get this thing started."

"Have you ever stolen a Razorback before? You're not going to get the door open with those toys!" she said as she started to unbutton her blouse. "Each one of these vehicles has a microchip in a key fob and you have to have that to not only open the vehicle, but to start it too."

"What are you doing?"

"Taking off my corset."

"You wear a corset? Why do you wear a corset? You certainly don't need to wear one!"

"Why thank you for noticing Agent Savage," she giggled as she gave him a grin. "But of course I do, it's somewhat stab proof and is also great place to hide tools."

Before she could pull off her blouse, Jack quickly looked away as he felt his ears begin to blush. Thankfully she didn't say anything to embarrass him further. "It's safe to look now!" she coyly called out. He turned to see her holding the white corset in her paws and she had put her dirt soiled blouse back on, although in her haste she had missed a button and it was now askew.

She sat the corset down on a car hood and began to pull a set of wires from inside of it, slipping them into a small tube in the corset. Pressing the end of the wire against the vehicle's door handle, she pushed the end of the tube and was rewarded with a popping noise as the door lock opened. Quickly she climbed into the driver's seat and awkwardly stepped on the brake as she pressed the start button. "Ta da!" she proclaimed as the engine started and she hopped off the seat. "Chalk up another win for special mouse technology! I remotely cloned the fob while you were talking with McHorn earlier and he didn't even know I had done so."

"Really, why did you do that?" Jack asked with a smile as he shook his head in amazement.

"In case we had to seal his car," she answered with a shrug of her petite shoulders.

"I'm driving!" Jack quickly snapped out before she climbed back into the driver's seat. Lisa stepped back and made a point of looking down at the cast which covered his left arm. Without objecting, she picked up her corset as she walked around the police vehicle and opened the passenger side.

Jack awkwardly climbed into the large seat and after adjusting the vehicle's controls to match a mammal of his size, put it in gear and they pulled out of the building and onto the street. With a roar, the jackrabbit drove towards the bridge ahead and the city beyond.

"Horn head is going to be pissed with you!" Lisa dryly commented as she began to unbutton her blouse again.

"What are you doing now?" Jack protested as he glanced her way.

"I'm getting dressed. I'm putting my corset back on, why?"

"Here?"

"Sure, why not? Oh come on Agent Savage, I know you've seen a half naked vixen before!"

"Agent Longears!" he began to object, but the he saw she had begun to peel off her blouse and he quickly focused on the road ahead.

"Prude!" she giggled and his ear's twitched as he heard her thrashing about in the seat. Forcing himself not to look, he let out an agitated huff.

"There we go, I'm presentable once again!" Lisa finally announced. "You can look at me now Agent Savage."

"Foxes!" was the jackrabbit's only reply.

* * *

 **Okay, I have no idea how to hotwire a modern car, so let us assume that the vixen's little mice friends have figured it out.**


	45. Desperate Hopes for the Future

**Chapter 45: Desperate Hopes for the Future**

* * *

" _ **All of**_ _ **history**_ _ **is my weapon, you fool. I fight with**_ _ **time**_ _ **itself. You are its**_ _ **playthings**_ _ **. I am its**_ _ **conqueror.**_ **"** **-** Kang the Conqueror from Marvel Comics.

 **Tommy tries to outwit his captor and stay alive so he can see the future. Nick and his friends discuss their futures.**

* * *

 **1925**

Tommy Clawhauser watched from the back of the unmarked police car as the big bull in the brown suit dragged the body of the slain businessmammal known as Sal Woolstein over towards a luxurious sedan that he had moved from behind the building, where it was parked awaiting his owner who would never return. The brutal detective had already tossed his late partner into the same vehicle. "This is such a fine car," Gary snorted. "Woolstein had good taste and it's almost a sin to torch a fine Catillac like this. A V-23 touring model with a custom design, look at the trim work in this baby. It really is such a pitiful shame!"

The cheetah sat up straighter, wincing in pain as his tail hit the seat and he knew the bull had definitely broken it earlier. Gary had returned to the car and pulled out a couple of bottles of what appeared to be bootleg gin. "I keep these in the back, you never know when you need to frame someone for something?" he laughed before pulling the cork and splashing the liquid over the bodies. He took a match and struck it, almost casually tossing it into the car, and flames began to rise from within. In just a few moments, the luxury car was engulfed in fire. "Time to run!" the bull snapped as he slipped into the driver's seat and drove the unmarked police car out of the building and onto the busy street. "You know old Sal back there stiffed me. My late partner said he promised us a couple thousand smackers for your hide, but he only had a C-note in his wallet."

"Did you really think he'd have that much in his pockets?"

"Well, I don't know?"

"He probably stashed it inside the building. You must have burned it up with the bodies."

The bull slammed on the car's brakes and he looked back at the smoke rising in the distance. He could hear the approaching clanging of fire engine bells. "Damn it!" Gary angrily snorted. "Just damn it all to hell, you better be worth at least a couple thousand to Catpone!"

"I'm not the one who burned up all my money," Clawhauser replied, trying not to laugh at the bull.

Starting the car again, Gary drove towards midtown. "You also better be telling me the truth about Catpone offering a big award for your damn tail," he huffed.

"You think I'd lie to you?"

"I think that you'd do anything to stay alive, pelt!"

"Look, I've got some cash in my office, a couple of hundred bucks…"

"That's pennies to the dollar."

"I just thought I'd try."

"So how do I contact Catpone?"

"Why do you think I'd have his phone number? "

"I thought all you cats stuck together?"

"If we did, why would he happen to have a bounty out for me?" Tommy replied. "I would have thought every dishonest copper would know he was looking for me, why not you?"

"Like I said, my partner was the one who set this up," the bull replied before hitting the car's horn to send a pedestrian scrambling to get out of their way. "I was wondering why those damn Happy Town coppers were talking to him earlier about Catpone? He was playing both them and me all along."

"How did you know I was on the train?"

"We didn't, everything in and out of that town is being stopped and searched for you today. You were last seen sneaking around downtown early this morning when one of the local dancers disappeared, a girl named Molly."

"Her name was Molly Greenfields and Catpone killed her. I had photos of his guys dumping her body, but the camera was in the sheriff's pocket when you tossed him into the river."

"Too bad, I could have used them to blackmail Catpone."

"Blackmail a mob boss? You wouldn't have lived very long trying to doing that!" Tommy scoffed. "Just how did Woolstein get here so fast? He was already waiting for us when we got to the city."

"The old ram was at one of his warehouses in the city, the Happy Town factory isn't his only place of business. We stopped on the way in and called him to ask where he wanted you delivered."

"I'll bet you that your former partner and Woolstein were related, part of the same herd. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't sheep working saps like you at every roadblock leaving Happy Town. It sounds like good old Sal was using Catpone's set up to his own advantage and you were just the sucker who found me."

"I should just shoot you and put you out of my misery." Gary huffed as he pulled the car down a side street and into an alleyway behind a group of disreputable looking buildings. Grey weathered boards hung over crumbling stone foundations. A raccoon peeked out of one of the building's upper windows before she slammed the worn warped shutters closed. Standing near a doorway and slightly under a small tattered green awning, a fat hippo in a grimy smock smoked his cigarette. At the sight of the detective, he took another puff before quickly stepping back inside. Tommy watched as the bull charged off through the light rain, towards the doorway where the hippo had previously stood. "Keep your head down or I will blow it off." he had snorted before he left. "I'll be right back."

As soon as he knew his captor had gone inside and was out of sight, Tommy wiggled his way towards the door and tried to hook his foot paws on the door knob. As he moved, his tail hit the seat and sent excruciating pain up through his back. With a grunt, he pushed at the door and it began to swing open.

Suddenly the door slammed closed again and a one eyed beaver peered inside at him. The rodent looked at him with his one good right eye, his left eye was milky white and there were scars across the side of his face as if someone had raked sharp claws along it.

"Youz ain't goin no whar BOY!" the buck toothed beaver spat out in a disgusted tone. "Gary said yid try ta make a run fer it." The falling rain, which had soaked his grimy blue work shirt, didn't seem to bother him at all as he menacingly waved a chunk of wood at the trapped cat. "Jes give me a reason ta whack ya a good un!"

Tommy settled back the best he could as he looked up at the filthy wet creature, who just stood outside of the car in the rain and stared at him with malice.

A few minutes later, Gary returned in a jovial mood. "Youz wer'd right and he tried to scat, but I tolted him who were da boss!" the beaver snapped at the bull. Now pay up!"

The detective opened the car's truck again and handed the beaver a bottle of the booze he had stored there, the yellow toothed rodent popped the cork and took a snort. "Ah, dat's the good stuff!" he sighed. "Let me knows if ye need me ta cat sit again or just do 'em in, he taint the first cat I dun rubbed out."

Gary shook his head while he settled back into the car as the rain began to pick up some, but the beaver just stood there getting even more wet while he drank from the bottle. "Charming friends you have detective," Tommy muttered from the backseat.

"Pete ain't no friend, but he's useful when you need him," the bull replied as he shook himself and wiped off some of the water from his hide. "He hates all cats though. I understand he got those scars in a fight with a bobcat back when he worked construction on the wall. The pelt scratched him as he was helping the stupid sap get down. It seems that cats really do land on their paws, but they also go splat when pushed from fifteen stories."

"Like I said he's charming,"

"Catpone's brother Frank is on his way to the city to get your scrawny hide, they offered to match the two thousand. We're meeting down by the docks."

"But the bounty was three! Don't tell me that you are going to let them screw you out of a grand?"

"What?"

"You know us cats like to play with things? Well, they are playing with you bud. When Frankie meets you, hold out for more money…I have to be worth at least five Gs."

"You really think I could get that much?"

"You could try, I'm worth at least that much to Catpone," Tommy lied, not trying to snicker. He knew that Frank Catpone was not one to mess around with and that the bull was on a collision course with a disaster. But maybe it was one which the cheetah could survive?

* * *

"Ya needs ta think bout this some more," Zachariah sighed. "Reckon ya'll forgots that Miss Judy is a wanted by the coppers fer taking that thar gun. They is also a lookin fer little Ricky too because of what his paw dun. If two handsome foxes are seen wid a youngin bobcat kitten, don't ya kin that thar would make folks go a wonderin?"

"He has a point," Nick replied as he looked out of the back of the truck. The rain had slowed down to a sprinkle, but the sound of thunder could be heard in the distance. Most of the Snapper gang members had either taken shelter in Wilde Times or had left, leaving the wet park empty and peaceful. The red fox knew this park well, in the future there would be a library where his great-grandfather's billiard hall now stood and in the center of the park stood a bronze statue of Piberius. His grandfather would walk with him down to the park on Sundays to tell him stories about Wilde Times and also about the great preacher. He couldn't help but laugh as he thought about Piberius and all the stories of how holy and righteous the fox was, but in reality he was just another con-artist.

"What's so funny?" Judy asked him as she leaned against him and looked up at him with those lovely amethyst eyes. "You just said that Zachariah had a point and then you just laughed?"

He looked down at her and smiled. "Sorry, it's just some old memories I have of this park. I grew up being told all about Piberius, as if he was a hero who was sent by the gods to save us foxes. A good fox…a holy fox…the voice of the gods…he could melt the hardest hearts with his voice…that's what they will say about him. You should know that there will be a statue of him erected in this park and as a child we would all come down here with candles on Piberius Day and listen to the politicians and community activists make speeches about his legacy in the Civil Rights movement. Now…well, now that I meet him…"

"Ah reckon he up and turned out ta be just another feller," Zachariah chuckled. "With warts n' all and no great holy saint, but just a lil old common feller try'n ta make a livin."

"As a hustler," Nick sadly added. "And yet when I heard him inside of the building talking to all those angry wolves and foxes, there was greatness in his voice."

"Heroes taint no one special." Zachariah continued. "They're just fellers who step up when they are dun needed. Ya say in the future, yer a copper? Taint no foxes are police, but you are right?" Nick nodded as he looked over at the burly farmer's son. "Yer the first fox copper and so don't ya think that some little fox kit dun thinks yer a hero? Lookin up at you fer being sometin he was dun tolt he could never do, just kin he's a fox."

"Or because you are a rabbit," Nick said in a fond tone as he looked down at Judy. "They said you were too small to be a police officer, but you showed them!"

"We showed them together Slick!" the rabbit doe answered as she hugged his arm.

"Meeting you two has inspired me again and made me realize that I can be more than just a meter maid!" Miss Judy enthusiastically said. "So if we ever get back to the future, I'm going to prove to Bogo I can be a real police officer."

Rubin squeezed her tighter in his arms. "You're not going anywhere, except home to be my wife and then you can become the greatest farm wife in history."

"She taint gomna be one ya kin keep on the farm," Zachariah laughed. "Sides, ya hate farmin and always dreamed of a comin ta the big city to open yer own grocery store."

"Okay, than she can become the greatest grocer's wife in history," Rubin quickly replied.

"Oh sweetheart, history is going to chew you up and spit you out!" Judy giggled as she smiled at the look which Miss Judy was giving the buck. "Between the Civil Rights Movement and Women's Lib, you're going to have to watch your cute macho self."

Miss Judy laughed as she wrapped her arms around the buck. "If fate decides that I am going to stay here with you, then you're really going to have to listen to me. "

"Reckon we know who's warin' the britches in that family," Zachariah snickered.

"You know fox, I'd listen to her too," Nick laughed back. "Which of you two know the future?"

"Good point," Rubin sighed as he snugged closer into Miss Judy's arms.

"Reckon yer already dun hen pecked!" Zachariah chuckled.

"Yeah!" Rubin sighed before he kissed Miss Judy.

Nick leaned back and looked out of the back of the truck for a few moments. "So if we can't go into the city where you can catch the train, why don't we just drive around the outside of the city to a station where the train will stop after it leaves the city limits? It seems to me that there used to be plenty of old train stations between Zootopia and Bunnyburrow, so you can get on the train at one of those stations," he observed.

"You're right Nick. They haven't built the high-speed commuter train yet!" Judy enthusiastically added. "I'll bet they still do use those stations!"

* * *

 **The first modern efficient diesel engine driven train was produced in 1925, but it was still a rarity until the Pioneer Zephyr was introduced in 1933 at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Steam driven engines were still the norm in the 1920's.**

 **While reading this story you might wonder why Al Catpone has such control over Happy Town? My version of this town is somewhat based on a rought blending of Cicero, Illinois and Harlem, New York. The town of Cicero is just outside of Chicago and had become so corrupted by organized crime that in the spring of 1925, Mayor Joseph Klenha was publicly slapped down the city hall steps by Al Capone and the town's police did not lift a finger to arrest the gangster.** ** **Capone and his organization had over 200 saloons and gambling "establishments" operating in Cicero since Mayor Klenha had taken office the year before. The mayor had publicly disrespected Catpone and the gangster showed him who was really in charge!****


	46. Truth & Consequences

**Chapter 46:** **Truth &** **Consequences**

* * *

" _ **You mess with the past, it messes back."**_ **—** Jake Epping , 11.22.63, Season 1: Happy Birthday, Lee Harvey Oswald

 **Lisa and Jack think they are coming to the rescue.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

"Foxes!" Agent Jack Savage softly chuckled as he glanced over at his fellow agent. The petite fox kit vixen had buttoned her blouse back on and was once again presentable. She sat in her seat with a smug look upon her face, obviously enjoying his discomfort. There was a scurrying sound and he looked again to see ADOLF now perched back upon her shoulder. "Since when did they start issuing corsets to female field agents?" he asked.

"Well can you think of a better place to hide tools?" she scoffed. "Besides, how many males would even consider checking the inside of a female's underwear when they pat her down? Are you telling me that your wife didn't use one?"

"Skye didn't need a corset…" Jack began to answer and then he shook his head before continuing. "As I said you don't need one either."

Lisa shot him a smile, "Like I said before, thank you for noticing." She actually giggled when she saw the jackrabbit's ears had slightly turned pink from blushing. "But in all seriousness, who is this friend of yours that you are worried about?"

"Have you ever heard of Agent Bucky O'Hare?"

"He was once the Agency's number one counter assassin. They say that he has hunted down and killed dozens of enemy spies and dangerous mercenaries, he never misses!"

"He missed only once."

"Wait, we weren't told that! Who did he miss?"

"Skye…he missed Skye, she was the only enemy agent to outfox him and it cost him dearly."

"He was supposed to kill your wife?"

"It was before I met her, she was on his list long before we were assigned together on our first mission."

"So are you going to tell me what happened?" Lisa asked before she grabbed at the car door's armrest as Jack made a turn onto a cross street without slowing down. The large police SUV actually drifted sideways towards the sidewalk. She gave out a tiny yip before the Jackrabbit straightened the car out and back onto all four wheels again. "SO, ARE ALL RABBITS BAD DRIVERS OR IS IT JUST YOU?" she frantically screamed as they weaved past a burned out armored car, barely missing the obstacle.

"I drive much better when using both paws," he chuckled back as he looked at her. Her ears lay flat and her tail bristled with fear.

"So tell me the story! Come on and stop being a tease," she finally asked.

"Skye was off duty and on leave along the Sea of Speri, just doing a little gambling and catching some sun on the beach. She was way down on Bucky's target list and they had more or less stumbled into each other by accident. One thing led to another, meaning that he shot at her and she shot back, before she escaped on a stolen motorcycle. He took off after her on another stolen motorcycle…well they were not real motorcycles like your hog, but those perky red electric bikes. They were weaving in and out of heavy traffic, while each was trying to shoot the other," Jack said before he suddenly went silent for a few moments, as if he was gathering his memories and then he continued. "They came upon a large delivery truck, a rhino sized monstrosity, which was pulling across the road and Skye barley squeeze by it and the oncoming traffic. She told me that her back wheel was slightly bumped by the truck as the driver squealed on his brakes. Bucky couldn't stop and slammed right into one of the huge tires, he was hurt really bad."

"That's terrible!"

"We agents all take risks like that when in the field and you should know that by now. After all, you and I almost got blown up earlier today. Bucky overplayed his hand and knew it, but it was too late. They patched him up the best that they could in the hospital, but both of his foot paws were crushed in the accident. There was no hope and they had to amputate them both."

"So Bucky is now in a wheelchair?"

"Oh, he's too tough for that! He had them fit him with a pair of carbon-fiber "blade" prosthesis and now he can out hop the best of us, but he tires quickly."

"So he must have been really pissed when he found out about you and Skye."

"Bucky is a professional, he understood."

"But he never could do field work again, that had to leave hard feelings."

Jack sighed and quietly concentrated on his driving as they raced down the mostly empty streets at breakneck speed. Finally with tears in his eyes, he softly answered Lisa question, "He helped me through the pain after her death and later he even went as far to assemble a list of her potential killers." The jackrabbit went silent again and finally after a heavy sigh, he continued. "I lived up to my last name back then, I truly was savage in the way I ruthlessly hunted down those on that list. Minos tried to rein me in, but I was too angry and bitter."

"What happened? Did you catch the killer?"

"No, I tracked down one of the few targets on that list who was still alive. The skunk was a former mercenary and I confronted him in a small town overseas, downtown in the market. He stood there trying to get his young daughter to release him and leave, so she wouldn't see me kill him. She wouldn't go and desperately clung to her father as she sobbed. I saw the fear in his eyes, not for himself, but for her. My pistol was aimed right between his eyes, but I just couldn't pull the trigger and I let him live. It was not long after that when Minos showed me proof that the retired merc couldn't have been the killer and it was then I realized what a disgusting vengeful creature I had become. After I calmed down, Minos and I also came to the conclusion that it was an inside job." His left arm was in a sling and his right paw was on the car's wheel, so he fought the urge to reach up and touch the white linen handkerchief with the embroidered "S" which was safely tucked in his suit pocket. It was one of the few reminders he still had of his late wife.

"What is Agent O'Hare doing now?...Wait! Did you just say that your wife was murdered by someone in the Agency?"

"Bucky is training members of the counter-terrorism squads. After Minos, he's one of the few agents I would trust with my life. As for who killed Skye, we don't know but we will find out!"

Lisa silently leaned back in her seat and continued to watch the road ahead, fully aware that Jack had not recovered from Skye's death. She slightly frowned at herself, her cavalier attitude while stripping off her corset in front of him and teasing him about vixens. Shifting slightly in the seat, she tried to glace at the handsome hare and it fully dawned on her how difficult it must be for him to work with another fox. As for another agent having killed Skye, she wasn't surprised after what they had been through.

Ahead of them was Savannah Central, the heart of the city. The tall skyscrapers brooded silently over them like dark sentinels, devoid of any life. Normally the sidewalks would be jammed with all sorts of animals scurrying from one place to another and the streets jammed with traffic. But today, the only vehicles were police cruisers and military vehicles. Jack frowned at the large imposing structure which had come in to view in front of them, the silvery grey granite sprawling building which was the Federal Offices. Something must have happened inside, for there was smoke pouring out of the front doors and military police with heavy weapons were moving in and out. Several tanks were parked with their huge cannons aimed towards the building. The huge olive drab painted steel goliaths were crewed by large shaggy furred buffalo soldiers in their multicolored camouflaged combat fatigues.

"Please tell me that we're not going in there?" Lisa asked as she watched several of the soldiers look over at the police vehicle as it zoomed on by. "They'll arrest us before we get to the door, if they don't shoot us first."

"There are other ways into that building than just the front doors," Jack cryptically answered.

Lisa rolled her eyes and huffed as they continued down the street until they reached a public parking garage. Jack didn't slow down for the ticket dispenser, but slammed right through the thin plastic bar which was blocking the entrance. "I think you were supposed to get a ticket," she sarcastically stated.

Jack chuckled before he answered, "I hate doing expense reports."

She followed her fellow agent as they jumped out of the police vehicle and approached the elevator. Jake stopped to pull at the button pad, swinging it open and then stood on his tiptoes so that the security device inside could scan his right eye. Immediately the doors shut and instead of going upwards to the garage's next level, they went downward. "From this point on, be prepared to shoot to kill," Jack warned her.

They pressed themselves against the elevator walls as the doors began to open. Lisa's nose twitched when she smelled gunpowder and the tang of freshly split blood in the air. As the doors slid open, she saw that there was a dead ibex in a black suit slumped over the desk he had once been sitting at. His blood slowly dripped off the table and into a sticky looking red puddle on the stark white tile floor. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered and dimmed, causing her to shield her sensitive eyes with her left paw.

Jack quickly moved past her, he had pulled his cast covered broken arm from the black sling around his neck, so it was free of cloth's confines and he gripped his pistol in his right paw. He frowned as they saw two other dead agents in black combat fatigues laying sprawled face up in the hallway. Lisa knelt by the two slain agents and saw that something thin and sharp had pieced their body armor just at the heart level. She quickly looked up at her partner in surprise, but he just nodded towards the closed doorway at the end of the hallway. Holding her pistol in both paws, she weaved back and forth as she drew closer to the double doors. ADOLF gamely clung to her shoulder, its red dot of an eye scanning everything. Hesitating, before the doors she sniffed and then listened for signs of a possible ambush. She really wished that she still had her cell phone, with the small surveillance balls which she could slip under the opening, but they and the phone had been blown to smithereens at the cemetery.

Jack moved along the wall on the opposite side, his ears were erect as he too listened. Despite her species large ears, his hearing was still superior to hers. Slowly he used his foot to push the door open and peeked around the door. Once he satisfied that they were safe, he passed her and stepped into the next corridor. She joined him as they stalked down that hallway, he was in front facing forward and she followed, carefully walking backwards so as to cover their rear. Finally, they paused at an office door and Jack leaned forward to listen.

"I thought that I taught you be quieter than that Jacko!" a firm male voice called out in an amused tone from inside the room. "A herd of bloody elephants would have been more silent than you two!"

With a smile, Jack pushed to door open to reveal a handsome black furred rabbit in a black suit sitting on a chair, there was a lot of silver fur along his muzzle showing he was much older. His leg was crossed over the other and he looked up at them with a smirk as he adjusted the curved device which was firmly attached to his leg. A silver tipped walking stick was propped against the chair next to him. "It's about time you got here boyo!"

"Agent Lisa Longears, meet Agent Bucky O'Hare!" Jack laughed. "The meanest SOB in the Agency."

"Ah, I see that they stuck you with another vixen," Agent Bucky O'Hare chuckled. "And you're a much too pretty lass to be hanging out with that bloody pervert."

Lisa was almost mesmerized by the rabbit's hazel eyes which peered at her from the black and silver speckled face. "It's nice to meet a friend of Jack's," she replied. Then she saw the bodies of two more black fatigue clad bodies. "You've had some problems, I see."

"A few wayward agents, but I dispatched them my dear lassie," the rabbit replied. "Now speaking of friends, Minos just left with his team to capture the Homeland Defense Bureau's command post upstairs and he asked that I send you up there to assist, it's a rather sticky wicket."

"I thought Minos was overseas?" Lisa asked in surprise as she turned to face Jack.

"That was the story, but he was actually assembling an elite strike team here in the city. The HDB's main field office is here in Zootopia and his team is supposed to seize it before they can delete their records," Jack replied. "You stay here and make sure that Agent O'Hare is safe, I'm going on up to join him."

Lisa watched as the jackrabbit in the black suit left the room and then with a slight sigh she turned back to face the black rabbit, that is until she recognized that one of the dead agents was a former classmate and also a member of their department. "That's Skippy!" she exclaimed as she knelt next to the deceased wallaby. "He was a champion kickboxer and one of our agents." She grunted as she shoved the body over and saw the bruises on his face and the single thrust of something sharp though his armor and into his heart. "Why did you kill him?"

There was a click of metal and then soft scrapping on the floor. "You damn vixens always are too nosy for you own bloody good. Jacko's whore of a fox was the same," the rabbit said. Lisa turned to see that O'Hare was standing up on his blades and holding his walking stick as if it was a weapon. "Minos should have left more experienced agents to guard me and used something better than a pair of handcuffs to bind me. It really was too bad that he finally figured out I was the chap who killed Skye."

* * *

 **Bucky O'Hare was inspired by Rocket Raccoon's sometimes ally or rival, a mercenary space rabbit named Blackjack O'Hare.**

 **Does Lisa's frantic scream stir any memories about another cotton tailed driver?**


	47. The Devil & The Vixen

**Chapter 47: The Devil & The Vixen**

* * *

" _ **Time is the only thief we can't get justice against."**_ – Astrid Alauda.

 **Nick and the gang try to leave town. In the future, Agent Longears battles for her survival.**

* * *

 **1924**

Nick's plan came quickly to a screeching halt as their pickup truck rumbled down the street towards the bridge leading out of town and they saw that several police officers were searching all the vehicles attempting to leave. Rubin leaned out of the window and called back to Nick, "I'm pulling into that filling station to get some more gasoline. Maybe we can find out what is going on?" The fox grimly nodded in agreement.

"Sumptin big is suh a going on!" Ezekiel said to Zachariah has the two red fox brothers stood up to look over the top of the truck's cab at the commotion. "Look at all them coppers and boy howdy, thar sure is a right peck of rams."

"I want to see!" Ricky called out in frustration as the bobcat kitten tried to look, but couldn't.

They pulled into the gas station and a young teenage warthog dressed in a grimy white tee shirt and a pair of oil splattered dark grey canvas overalls came running out of the building. "Welcome to Spiffy Joe's, how may I help you?" he politely asked Rubin. The rabbit buck was frantically digging in his pocket for cash and frowned when he realized how little he still had left.

"Fill'er up!" Nick called out as he casually hopped from the truck bed and stretched while trying to look bored. He watched with interest as the teenager began to crank a handle on the gasoline pump and fuel began to fill the glass cylinder at the top.

"We're going to have to hop out," Rubin said to Miss Judy. "The fuel tank is under the seat."

The rabbit doe in the flowery dress looked confused as she stepped out and watched while Rubin lifted up the seat to reveal the gas tank below. "We've been sitting on the gas tank this whole time?" she muttered in surprise. "That doesn't seem safe."

The attendant then unscrewed the fuel cap, before he pulled a measuring stick from his back pocket and put it in the tank's opening.

"You're about bone dry!" the warthog called over to Rubin. "You do want a full tank?"

"Like my friend said, fill it up!" Rubin replied.

Nick leaned over and watched with interest as the teenager put the hose into the tank's opening and slowly began to pour. "There sure is a lot of action going on across the bridge today," he casually asked. "Did someone rob a bank?"

"No sir, but they are looking for a guy who kitnapped a dancer!"

"A kitnapper? My goodness, is it one of those gangsters we heard about last night?"

"They say it's supposed to be Tommy Clawhauser, but no one around here believes that Mister Clawhauser would do such a thing."

The teenager inserted the stick into the tank and nodded as he added some more gasoline. "If you pull up to the garage, I can pump up your left tire some. It looks like it's getting a little low," he called over to Rubin. "We've got inner tubes for sale too, if you would like to buy a new one?"

"We are just leaving town and so do you really think we still got much cash left after Main Street?" Nick smoothly answered the teenager's question with a wink. "We've got just enough for the gas."

The teenage looked up and laughed, "I guess you wouldn't at that sir, but I bet you had a swell time."

"Just peachy," Nick replied and before Rubin could count his change, Nick handed the teen five bucks from the cash that the foxes at the World's Fair had given him and Judy earlier. That was more than what was due and left him with a large tip. "Keep the change." Pretending to walk away, Nick suddenly stopped and leaned over closer to the young warthog. "Hey, you wouldn't know a back way out of town? Me and my friends have a few bottles of…let's just say we have some souvenirs which we don't want the coppers to find," the fox whispered. "Can you help a poor fox out?"

The warthog looked toward the police on the bridge before answering, "There is an old track east of the mills which I hear bootleggers bring in their stuff. Go down Sycamore and then turn at Elm. The trail starts behind the old burned down church, your truck should have no problem getting down it."

"You're a pal!" Nick called out as he swung himself back into the truck bed and waved. "Don't take any wooden nickels, Sport!"

Judy looked up at Nick as he sat back down next to her. "You've still got it partner," she giggled. "Slick Nick is back!"

"Ah reckon you waz a doin just fine, until ya said that thar wooden nickels thing," Ezekiel chuckled. "Taint no one say that no more."

"The good news is we've got a way out of town without being stopped by the police," Nick sighed. "The bad news is that it seems they are looking for Tommy Clawhauser too. I think we better hurry and get to that train station and then head over to the swamp. Maybe we can back track from there?"

"But what if they have already killed the owner of the watch and dumped his body?" Miss Judy asked. "I mean, we really don't know if the owner was Tommy Clawhauser and when, or even if, the owner was killed in the swamp. They might have just dumped his body there."

"There had to be a reason why the watch sent us back here?" Judy answered. "I can only think it is to save its owner."

"Then why did Nick send me back here to stop you?" Miss Judy added.

Neither Nick nor Judy had the answer to her question as Rubin pulled the truck back onto the street and towards the mills.

They finally found the remains of the old church exactly where the teenager said it would be and Zachariah winced as he looked at the heavily rutted dirt trail which lay before them. "That thars gonna be a rough going for sure," he dryly commented to Nick.

"This truck has been down worse!" Rubin replied as he slowly began to accelerate the pickup truck down the trail. "I just hope that patched tire holds out!"

* * *

 **Present Day**

Smoke filled the building around him as the jackrabbit in the black suit moved silently through the hallway, avoiding the any enemy agents and the military police while they battled each other. The building shook and Jack realized that the police had resorted to the heavy guns from the tanks outside to turn the tide. The Federal Building was being turned into a killing ground. He only hoped that Minos and his team had been successful in capturing the control room before any of the important data was destroyed.

Two agents in black suits lowered their guns when they recognized him. The hare just nodded at them while he gingerly stepped over a dead body before he passed by them. With a shove, he pushed the room's door open and looked at the carnage inside. A dashing looking aegean cat, in a matching black suit, looked up from the banks of computers with surprise when his former partner Jack Savage entered the control room. "What are you doing here boss?" Minos asked in confusion. "I thought you would be downstairs interrogating O'Hare?"

"Why would I be interrogating Bucky?"

"The other agents didn't tell you why he was handcuffed to that chair? Since you're off the grid, I had no way of calling you back after we talked earlier."

"Wait…what exactly is going on? There were two dead agents in the room and I just figured that they tried to kill Bucky. I left Agent Longears down there to help protect him if anyone else showed up."

"O'Hare was the one who killed Skye. He never stopped working his mission list after he was injured and pulled out of the field. By killing your wife, he manipulated you into almost finishing his mission instead."

"But they took Skye off that list!" Jack frantically replied as he began to run towards the doorway.

"He still kept her on it," Minos called back as he followed the jackrabbit out of the door. "Agent Longears is in trouble."

Downstairs things couldn't have been worse.

"It really was too bad that bloody cat finally figured out that I was the chap who killed Skye," the black furred rabbit in the black suit sighed as he stood up on his running blades and held his cane as if it was a weapon.

Agent Lisa Longears tried to draw her pistol as she stumbled to her feet, but Bucky O'Hare was already on her. A sword blade came out of the cane as he thrust it at her, but she quickly maneuvered and his lunge barely missed her. His back swing however, cut across her stomach before she could react. He gave an agitated grunt when he realized that the corset she was wearing had protected her from the razor sharp blade.

The vixen tried to draw her pistol again, but the cane slammed down on her arm and made her drop the pistol. At almost the same time, the agile rabbit's steel right prosthetic foot blade painfully slammed into her chest and sent her reeling against a wall. "You are fast for a rookie, but all you damned foxes are hard to catch," he laughed as she tried to steady herself. "I had a forlorn hope that maybe Jack's magical time traveling watch might have actually existed. I could have used it to go back and save myself from the accident, but that was just another fantasy."

"Why...why did you kill Skye?" she panted out as she ducked under his blow and slammed her own paw into his arm, he hopped away before she could strike again.

"The lass was on my unfinished mission list. You should know before you die that I was bloody proud of that shot! I managed to hit her while the car traveling away. It was a bonnie shot of almost half a mile, which was too bad because I like my targets to know who offed them." He thrust with his cane again, nicking her right arm and drawing blood. She stumbled back from his next swing and it just missed her throat. She then brought her paw down with a karate chop, causing O'Hare to lose his grip on his cane and it clattered to the floor. "You really are a wee bit fast, but I need to end this!"

Lisa dove for her gun, rolling as she reached for it, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Pffftt!"

The shot was almost like a whisper and the bullet slammed into her left shoulder just above her heart. She fell back against the wall again and left a streak of bright red blood on it as she crumpled to the ground.

O'Hare stood over the wounded vixen, the smoking pistol firmly in his paw and smiled. "You know killing Skye actually worked out to my bloody advantage? Old Jacko in his vengeful grief almost finished up my assassination list before he went all soft and touchy-feely again. I had to admire his determination and ruthlessness as he hunted down his prey. He was almost as good at killing as I am, but after he left I had to finish up the mission."

"It's always about the mission…" the stricken vixen panted as she looked up at O'Hare."The mission always comes first."

"Of course it does my dear lass, you know that!" he answered as he stepped closer and lowered the gun towards her head. "Using your fellow agent's gun is not as fulfilling as killing you with my sword cane, but I think it is time for me to leave. Goodbye Agent Longears."

Before he could pull the trigger again, Lisa kicked out at his foot blade and swept her foot paw behind it. The black rabbit fell backwards and onto the floor. Sitting up, he picked up his gun and laughed at her again. "You're bloody tricky, but it didn't save you!" he triumphantly scoffed at her. He didn't hear the soft metallic clicking until it was too late.

ADOLF had fallen off Lisa's shoulder early on during the fight and it was unable to scurry fast enough to keep up with the fast moving mammals as they fought. Now that the rabbit was down and on the ground, the robot skittered towards him. With a mighty leap, it drove all six of its small metallic legs into O'Hare's chest. Four of those legs still contained their full load of venom, two having been emptied earlier into Agent Woodstock at the cemetery, and the robot emptied all four of the remaining stingers into its target.

Agent Bucky O'Hare grasped the small spider like robot and tried to dislodge it from his chest, but the toxin immediately spread through his body and paralyzed him. For a mammal his size, two doses was more than ample to incapacitate him and neither the robot, nor its mistress, understood why it had overrode all safety protocols. With what could only be called vengeful anger, ADOLF had unloaded all the remaining venom into the target. Agent O'Hare stiffened, because not only was his body paralyzed, but also his heart.

"Good boy…" was the last thing Lisa muttered before darkness overcame her.

It was as if she was in a tunnel of darkness, caught in a limbo of a half reality in which she was not quite asleep, nor fully awake. Lisa knew that her shoulder should be hurting, but everything was just so peaceful. She only wished that she wasn't so damned cold.

"Lisa!" a familiar voice frantically called out from the darkness…"hospital...arrest us…she'll die… my car…Q is going to kill me…not a scratch…hurry..!"

"Jessie?" she weakly mumbled out loud in confusion.

"No, it's Jack," the voice replied.

Lisa felt herself being gently picked up and yipped in pain as something was firmly pressed against her shoulder. The vixen struggled to open her eyes, but they were just too heavy and then it got dark again.

* * *

 **Filling up an automobile or truck with gasoline during the 1920's was not an exact science like it is today. Most vehicles did not have fuel gauges, but the driver would instead insert a fuel stick into the tank to estimate how much gasoline was left. You stuck the stick in and measured how much of it got wet. Mechanical fuel gauge were available in the more luxurious cars and finally a primitive electrical gauge was introduced in the 1930's.**

 **Gasoline pumps were also somewhat primitive. A hand crank was used to draw the gasoline up into the top of the pump and then gravity fed the flow down a hose and into the car's tank. The two most common types of pumps during the mid-twenties were what they called the fully enclosed** **previsible** **version with gauges and a visible version, which had a glass top where you could see the gallon markings.**


	48. The Enforcer

**Chapter 48: The Enforcer**

* * *

" _ **The realization that time can behave like another direction of space means one can get rid of the problem of time having a beginning, in a similar way in which we got rid of the edge of the world."**_ ― Stephen Hawking, The Grand Design

 **Tommy Clawhauser meets Frank Catopone and things don't go as expected for his kitnapper.**

* * *

 **1925**

Of the three Catpone brothers who had taken up crime for a living, Frankie was by far the most dangerous. Unlike his older brothers Ralph "Bottles" and Al "Scarface", Frankie "The Enforcer" wasn't known for his outstanding criminal mind or his organizational skills. He was just too quick to resort to violence without care or cause, a true sociopath. The younger jaguar was not someone you wanted to start a fight with if you planned to live long. Unlike his gregarious brother Al or his more studious brother Ralph, Frankie was more withdrawn and antisocial.

The rain was slacking up by the time they had reached the rendezvous point, a weedy lot down by the river docks. In the distance was the city's downtown, with its tall skyscrapers reaching upwards into the darkening steel grey sky. The scents, sounds, and lights of the nearby World's Fair filled the air, as the muscular jaguar stretched after he stepped out of the black sedan and looked around. Satisfied with the remoteness of the location, he carefully adjusted his red and green tie and the cuffs of his dress shirt under the sleeves of the dark blue wool suit he wore. Frankie was always one who liked nice clothes, an obsession he had after growing up wearing his older brothers worn hand-me-downs. There was a somewhat big bulge over his left chest where his gun was holstered. He had brought his favorite pistol tonight, it was larger than the one he usually wore, but the dark bluish grey revolver was of a caliber which could stop a large mammal's charge. Frankie Catpone was one who never underestimated his opponent and knew that a charging bull was hard to kill.

Behind him, Bugsy was holding a brown cloth satchel containing the two thousand dollars that they had agreed upon for the exchange. The ocelot in the blue striped suit reached up with his free paw to tilt his blue fedora hat back over his ears. To his left stood Lucky and the lion was still wearing his white evening jacket and black bow tie under a tan overcoat. His favorite submachine gun, with its circular magazine, was slung over his shoulder. He was reaching in his pocket for a pack of cigarettes, but hesitated when he saw Frankie's look.

Lucky was a somewhat complex lion. He grew up on the city streets and joked that his alleged father might be descended from the King of the Jungle, but his mother was the Queen of the Whores. His reputed "father" was never around and ultimately ended up on the wrong end of a knife during a fight over the draw of the cards. His mother was a beauty, but she did make a living by "entertaining" her paying customers and although she tried her best, she just didn't have much time to raise her children. Stan, that was his birth name, and his sister Sarah had to fend for themselves most of the time. Stan was given the nickname of Lucky when he joined a street gang and Sarah followed her mother's career path. Despite his rough childhood, the tall handsome lion was friendly and somewhat too kind hearted to be an enforcer. He was well liked by the regular patrons at Lucky Lindy's Dance Hall, where he worked most of the nights, and could be called upon to be the needed muscle when required. He often found it amusing that most of the patrons assumed, since he was called Lucky, that he owned the place, but the dance hall was just another of Catpone's joints and managed by the smaller ocelot he now towered over.

Bugsy also was at street cat, having spent his kittenhood in an orphanage, he soon attached himself to the coattails of a rising gangster superstar named Al Catpone. He wasn't one of the jaguar's best followers, because the ocelot had a tendency to miss seeing important things and sometimes made stupid mistakes. However, he was extremely loyal and that was important to the gang lord he followed. Frankie had roundly berated him earlier in the car for having broken the truce between the mafia and the Snappers Gang, despite the fact that he had done it under the orders of Al.

Trussed up securely in thick ropes, Tommy Clawhauser was helpless as he was hauled bodily out of the unmarked police car by the bull in the brown suit. Unlike Lucky, Tommy grew up with both his parents at home. Although his father worked long hours, there was still barely enough money for his family of six to survive, and so Tommy went to work in a local mill when he was old enough. As a teenage cheetah, he became fascinated with the stories he read about private detectives in the many cheap adventure magazines and dime novels. He dreamt of a life of action packed crime solving adventures, but instead was drafted into the military during the Great War. Like most of his species, the young cheetah was assigned to courier duty and he spent the war running orders from one mud soaked and flea invested outpost to another. For months he wearily clambered across shell hole pocketed fields and war torn roads with his satchel safely hanging from his shoulder. More than once he found himself fearfully huddled in a trench or a hole as artillery shell after shell, shook and tore the ground around him. Then there was the gas! The poisonous reeking deadly fog that settled amongst the battlefield and claimed the lives of those who were not prepared, be they friend or foe.

After the war, he returned home New Gnu to seek a job in a city overwhelmed with unemployed war veterans and like his father, he ended up with a menial, low wage delivery job. His life had just settled down to a slow boring pace, when the scorching summer of 1919 began. To beat the oppressive heat, most of the city's mammals went to the beach to enjoy the ocean breezes and the cool waters, but tensions on the crowded shores had run high as everyone jostled around each other for a place on the sand. Like most of the city, the beaches too were segregated, with the predators being shoehorned along the least desirable stretches. It was a hot and humid late July day when the unthinkable happened. A young tiger went swimming too far down the shore and ended up in a prey only section. When the tired teenager tried to swim ashore, he was pelted with stones by a group of prey youths and the poor kitten drowned. The police refused to charge anyone for the murder, but publicly went as far as to claim that it was an accident and the poor cat's fault. A few nights later the pent up anger, which had been simmering on the city's South Side, exploded into a full size riot. It raged for days before military intervention was used to restore the calm. By the time the series of riots ended in early August, fifteen prey and twenty-three predators had been killed and more than 500 mammals injured. Whole sections of majority predator communities had torched by rioters, displacing over a thousand families.

Disgusted and now homeless, Tommy set his sights toward a fresh start in a new city. The recently ended war had profoundly changed the once sleepy city of Zootopia. The city was now a rapidly growing enclave of commerce and business, spurred on by a progressive business community led by a former nationalist named Paul Porker. The portly boar had amassed a vast fortune by supplying the majority of the small arms ammunition used by the army during the war. He had also lost all three of his sons in battle and his only surviving daughter, Sarah, during the 1918 Swine Flu epidemic. Devastated, he gathered a cabal of equally futuristically minded wealthy business partners and together, they imagined rebuilding their city as a grand City of Peace. They were going to build a community in which all the mammals of the world could live together in harmony and, as they loved to proclaim, be a place where "anyone can be anything". The city's unique geography of being surrounded by tall craggy mountains was combined with the latest technological advancements, which included a state of the art "weather wall". Their aim was to artificially create a diverse variety of different controlled environments suitable for a wide range of mammals from around the world. It was truly going to be a modern marvel of mammals conquering and taming nature. The 1925 World's Fair and Exposition was their way of introducing their new concept for the future city to the world, it was a huge public relations event.

But science cannot control a mammal's heart and some of the new settlers brought not only their rich cultures, but also their own prejudges. Tommy quickly found that there were few communities within the growing city limits which allowed predators housing and so he ended up moving to nearby Happy Town instead. There he hung his private detective shingle and began a small career doing what he loved best. Then he met Elizabeth, who he affectionately called Lizzy, and after a whirlwind romance they married. Soon he was the proud father of two cubs and now he worried, not only about his own life, but what would happen to his family if he didn't survive the day.

"Don't forget to stand your ground," Tommy had told the burly detective during the drive to the docks. "If you back down, then Catpone will think you are a coward. The bull named Gary was a gullible bully and actually believed the lies that the cheetah was telling him. "Remember that all predators respect power, it's in our nature." He continued. "Be the Alpha, every pride has an Alpha and every pack has an Alpha."

"Yeah!...Yeah!...Yeah!" the bull snorted as he pulled the car down an old dirt road and then across a weed strewn field. "All you pelts fear real power, Catpone won't know what hit him."

"That's the spirit," Tommy agreed. "Don't let him cheat you out of the full reward."

Now the bull stood with his arms crossed arrogantly in front of the three gangsters. "I think that Clawhauser is worth more than the two grand you're offering," Gary called out in a sneering tone. "I can sell him to Woolstein for more. I want five thousand!"

"Why would Sal Woolstein want his mangy hide?" Fankie asked in surprise.

They were interrupted as a police car rumbled towards them. The gangsters tensed up at the sight of the approaching vehicle, until they recognized the two police officers inside. Both of the uniformed rams were on the take.

"He's lying to you Frankie!" Tommy called out from his place on the ground. "He killed Sal earlier downtown and now he's playing you for a sap."

"Shut up you bastard pelt!" Gary yelled as he kicked the bound up cheetah.

"What are you trying to do? Oh yeah, put me in my place!" Tommy continued. "What was it you said? We cats should know our place."

Frankie looked over at the bull in anger. "We had a deal copper, two thousand for Clawhauser and now you come here disrespecting me and my boys?" he growled.

"Three grand!" the bull snapped back, in a now not so confident tone.

"The deal was two," Bugsy interjected.

The two uniformed rams had joined the gangsters and watched as the cats haggled with the bull.

"He killed his partner along with Sal," Tommy called out to the two rams. "I hope they weren't in your herd?"

"He's the one who killed Sal Woolstien?" the larger ram asked as he looked first at bull and then at Tommy. "Someone torched his body in a car downtown a few hours ago."

"Yeah, he also killed a sheriff and his deputy too!" Tommy added. "Watch your back Frankie, he might put a slug or two in it when you turn."

"I said shut up!" Gary bellowed. "I've had it with you Clawhauser!" The bull reached for his pistol.

Lucky panicked when he saw the bull pulling at his pistol and the big lion quickly lowered his Tommy gun.

Ratttatttat! Rattatata!

Bullets riddled the bull, sending him stumbling backwards. "Bastard pelt," was Gary's last words before he collapsed onto the ground dead.

"Why did you shoot him?" Frankie yelled at the lion standing there with the smoking gun. "He was just going to plug Tommy!"

Bugsy looked over at the dead bull and chuckled, "Well you killed him…yeah, killed him good."

"What are you smiling at Jimmy?" Frankie snarled as he looked back at the large ram, who was rifling through the dead bull's pockets.

"I knew that sooner or later that this idiot would get himself killed," Jimmy answered as he stood up. "You just saved my herd from having to do it ourselves."

"What do you mean?" Lucky asked as he wiped his submachine gun down with a rag.

"He killed Sal," the uniformed ram said with a shrug. "Sal just wanted to get his hoofs on old Tommy over there, revenge for ruining his marriage."

"His marriage was ruined long before I got involved!" Tommy objected as he tried to wiggle free of the ropes. "He did that himself, all I did was get some pictures for his now ex-wife to use in her divorce."

"So what do we do with Clawhauser now?" Bugsy asked Frankie. "Take him back to the boss?"

"Naw, that this whole night is giving me a headache," Frankie scoffed as he turned to face Jimmy. "Why don't you two do me a favor and just make him disappear."

"Yeah, we can do that, but it'll cost you."

"I've got a couple grand in the case over there, I'm sure that should cover it."

"Sure Frankie, no problem as long as our boss agrees."

"Just take the money and let him know I owe him a favor."

"Hey!" Tommy yelled out in desperation. "I thought Al wanted me? Aren't you going to take me to see him?"

"He didn't want you that much Clawhauser," Frankie answered with a grin. "He only offered a two grand. Al spends that much entertaining his friends on a weekend and you're not worth any more of my time."

Tommy watched as the cat tossed the satchel full of cash towards the ram and he knew his fate was now sealed.

* * *

 **As I wrote previously, Frank Capone was killed in a shootout with undercover Chicago police officers sent to Cicero to help quell mob created violence leading up to that town's 1924 mayoral elections. Despite Frank's death, the mob's corrupt mayoral candidate was elected and gave Al Capone a safe base from which to operate his crime empire.**

 **Ralph Capone was Al's older brother and got his nickname because he operated a legal bottling operation in Chicago. He outlived his other criminal brothers and the authorities once described him as being the "elder statesman" of the former Capone run Chicago Outfit, although it was run by Frank Nitti and Ralph had very little actual power.** **He died of natural causes in 1974.**

 **Chicago's 1919 race riot was indeed sparked by the drowning of Eugene Williams** **in Lake Michigan. Chicago's beaches were unofficially segregated and he was stoned by a group of white youths for swimming in the wrong place. Anger boiled over when the police refused to arrest the man whom eyewitnesses identified as encouraging the youths** **to attack. The riots lasted until early August and cost 38 lives and displaced over a 1,000 families. Civil rights activist and author** **James Johnson** **coined the term the "Red Summer" to describe the series of race riots which racked the country that year from as far north as Connecticut to rural Arkansas. A US Senate investigation identified 38 separate racial riots and 43 lynching which took place that bloody year.**


	49. Muddy Paths

**Chapter 49: Muddy Paths**

* * *

" _ **There's a theory in quantum physics that time is immutable. It's like a river – you can throw a pebble in and create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do, the river just keeps flowing in the same direction."**_ – Dr. Hank McCoy (Beast) in X-Men Days of Future Past

 **The "Judy Posse" gets out of Happy Town and to a railroad station**.

* * *

 **1925**

Rubin masterfully handled the Furred TT Truck down the muddy, heavily rutted trail. As the truck bumped and swayed, Judy used that as excuse to find a more comfortable place to sit and that was in Nick's lap. Nick smiled as he protectively wrapped her in his arms and contently rested his muzzle between her ears.

Little Ricky at first giggled and laughed while they were jostled around, it was as if he was aboard a carnival ride. The truck's route had distracted him from his grief and now with the playful innocence of youth, he's only thoughts was the excitement caused by the bumpy ride. He was happily tousled between Ezekiel and Zachariah, but after a while he complained that his bottom was now hurting and ended up in Ezekiel's lap. It wasn't long after he finally got comfortable, when he began to yawn and then settled back in the fox's arms for a cat nap.

Despite the driver's extraordinary skills, the truck finally became bogged down in a large muddy patch. "Ah reckon its time ta do some shovin'," Zachariah grumbled as he stood up. "But, I taint gonna get my new duds all a muddy." He added as he dug under the folded oil cloth tarp. "Now Judy and Miss Judy, ya'll need to close yer peepers while we strip down and change clothes."

"Fluff has seen me several times without a shirt on before," Nick scoffed. "We've been to the beach and gym plenty of times. "

Zachariah gave Nick a smirk as he took his shirt off. Where Nick was rather slender in a muscular way, the country fox was broad-shouldered and strapping. Judy actually slightly blushed as she looked at the other fox's chest, causing the fox to grin. "Now ya might want to shut them purdy eyes little lady," he chuckled as he looked down at her. "Mah skivvies were a tad too gamey to wear wid these fine rags and so I have nuttin' under these britches." The rabbit quickly closed her eyes as he began to unbutton his pants and then let them drop.

"He's a tad bit of a show off," Ezekiel laughed as he too stripped off his clothes. He wasn't a broad-chested as his brother, but still muscular.

Even Nick fought a blush before looking away. "I think I need to work out some more," he whispered into Judy's ear and he put a paw of her eyes. "No peeking Fluff."

"Nick I'm not looking…" she began to object, but she halted when she "accidentally" opened her eyes just as the two brothers had leaned over to pull on their overalls. "Oh my!" She whispered as she quickly pulled her scarlet tinged ears down to cover her eyes.

"Zach used ta love a teasing them Hopps sister down at the old swimmin' hole" Ezekiel continued. "Sometimes they'd up and catch us skinny dippin and he'd just strut round buck tail naked, given them a fair eye full. However, I dun think they was just a tryin to catch old Rubin in the buff."

Judy giggled when she heard Miss Judy ask Rubin, "So I'm not the first of my family to see you naked?"

"Miss Judy!" Rubin protested as he blushed.

"Rabbits!" Ezekiel snickered as he hopped out of the truck and splashed into the mud. Zachariah landed right next to him.

Nick started to remove his jacket and was about to join them, when Zachariah looked up at him. "Have ya ever unstuck a car from a pothole?" he asked.

"There are not too many roads like this in the future," Nick answered as he looked down at the mud with an expression of distaste. "We have paved just about everything."

"Then I reckon it'll be a tad safer fer everyone if ya stay put. We don't want yer skinny city slicker tail ta get run over!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yep!" the fox answered as he helped his brother shove brush and logs under the wheels, then Rubin let loose the brake and the tire spun before finally catching the wood. Both brothers put their shoulders against the truck and shoved. The truck jerked before it got traction and rolled out of the muddy pool.

After wiping as much mud off themselves the best that they could, the brothers climbed back into the truck. "Might as well just settle back a tad fer we up and change again," Zachariah sighed as he shook the mud off his paws. "Case we dun get stuck again."

They didn't get stuck, but finally churned their way free and onto a gravel road outside of town. Conveniently, there was a pool of water just off the roadway and the two foxes slipped off their muddy overalls and dove into the cold water to wash. A joyful cry caught everyone's attention as Ricky began to toss off his clothes off as he too jumped, with a splash, into the water. Nick laughed when he heard Ezekiel exclaimed, "I dun thought ya cats hate water, lessn that what ya tolt us earlier."

"No, I just hate bath water!" Rick giggled as he splashed at the fox.

Zachariah just replied by splashing the kitten back.

"We don't have time to play around!" Rubin called out from the truck. "Get yourselves dressed and back into the truck!"

"Just like his pa!" Zachariah sighed out as he shook his head. "He's always barking orders too."

The two foxes emerged a few minutes later, still slightly damp but fully dressed in their suits. Ezekiel paused to help Ricky get dried off enough so he could get redressed and then helped the kitten back into the truck. They smelled like wet, but clean, fur and Zachariah bemoaned the fact that his tail was all knotted with fur sticking up. "Ah, the vanity of a fox and his tail!" Rubin laughed.

"So up and says the poor ol' sod widout one!" Ezekiel replied.

"Tail or no tail, get in the truck!" Judy sighed. "We don't have time for you two to stand around and groom, gods know it takes Nick forever to get ready." Nick replied by giving her a whack with his own reddish orange fluffy appendage, much to the amusement of everyone.

In the future, Judy would take the express train as it zipped at high speeds along the roughly two hundred mile journey from Bunnyburrow. It would speed across a long bridge over the straits and into the deserts of Sahara Square, then through the Wall and into the frozen icy mountains of Tundratown. The tracks would then skirt briefly into the muggy tropics of the Rainforest District, before they finally arrived at the Zootopia Central Station in the heart of the cit's downytown. The railroads in the 1920's would have a much longer and laborious route as the trains chugged all the way around what would become called the Polar Strait to get to the other side. Nick, Ezekiel and Rubin had agreed that the best plan would be to head north towards Westfield, the small agricultural settlement where the north-south line crossed the east west line heading into what was to become Tundratown and then slightly southward to the coast and Sandy Cove, where they could catch the train towards Bunnyburrow.

It still took them almost an hour to reach the sleepy farming community in what would one day be called the Meadowlands. Miss Judy and Judy's perception of the town was drastically different. Judy remembered it as a thriving quaint town with a large discount strip mall. Miss Judy however, said that it was renowned for having compounds of sheep and goats. The town was full of fringe anti-government groups and the heart of the predator hate movement. What they found was drastically different than either rabbit doe had expected.

Three large grain silos dominated the landscape, huge missile like silver tubes with white circular tops. The quaint white washed brick and tin roofed houses led to a downtown of tan limestone and reddish brick buildings which hugged the main street into the town. What surprised everyone the most was that there were pens upon pens of fowl, such as chickens and quail, all belonging to a large pack of wolves! Nearby were the fields of wheat and oats, all lovingly cared for by herds of sheep and goats. Along the main street were businesses in which all species chatted and idyllically socialized. As they rumbled past the town groomer, Nick saw the bespectacled goat barber was busy trimming a young wolf cub's fur as they happily chatted with an old ram playing checkers with an elderly wolf.

"I don't get it?" Rubin asked the rabbit doe next to him. "Miss Judy, you made it sound like this is a terrible place for predators but everyone is getting along?"

"I guess after a hundred years things change?" Miss Judy answered. "Something makes all of this just go sour. We both grew up in the Burrows and we know that farmers get to know each other in a small tight knit community like this, its hard to be prejudice of someone you know. But as the town grows, outsiders move in and change the community."

"Too bad," Rubin sighed. "What a terrible thing to happen."

The freight station was a caboose red slat wooden structure with a black asphalt roof and was located just off the main street. Across the tracks was the large water tank with its swinging metal arm. There a huge stack of baled hay and pens of fowl ready to be loaded onto the box cars on the eastward bound train. "It's going to a slow run, this is a mixed freight and passenger train," Rubin announced when he returned with the tickets. "The predator seating is in the last passenger car only and the dining car is off limits."

"Tain no surprise thar," Ezekiel sighed. "Reckon we best mosey across the street ta get some sandwiches and of few bottles of soda ta get us through the ride. Nick, do they up and treat ya like this in the future?"

"Nope, I can ride up front just like everyone else," Nick replied with a shake of his head. "Even us foxes are protected by law from discrimination, although it does still happen. I met Judy at a place called Jumbeaux's Café which sold frozen treats mostly to large mammals, like elephants. The owner refused to serve mebecause I was a fox, but Carrots put him in his place."

"That might be your future, but not mine," Miss Judy sadly added. "After the savage outbreak, predators were outlawed from traveling on mass transit. We were worried that one of them was going to go crazy on a bus or in the subway."

"Oh, there's a them now?" Nick scoffed.

"Ugh. You know what I mean!" Miss Judy relied as she stepped forward and tried to reach over to the fox. "You're not that kind of predator."

"Nicholas Wilde!" Judy interjected as she stamped her foot. "You are not going to get into that same argument with another Judy Hopps over that same statement! You should know that she didn't mean it that way, just like I didn't." Nick turned and looked at her, his ears folded back and he frowned. "Oh, don't give me that pouting look mister!" she continued as she stepped up to him and stepped up on her toes so she could kiss him on his nose.

"The press conference!" Miss Judy groaned. Her ears were now drooping behind her back and she palmed her forehead. "I said…you said, the same thing to Nick…"

"…after the press conference," Judy finished her sentence. "That's why he got angry…"

"…and left us…I mean you!" Miss Judy sighed. "That was stupid of me, I should have remembered!"

"Yep, here we dun go again," Zachariah snickered as he looked at Ezekiel. "Thar up and doin it again." His brother just shrugged.

"Would you two please stop doing that?" Ruby interjected.

"Doing…" Miss Judy began.

"…What?" Judy finished.

The buck just groaned as he handed the tickets to the grinning foxes. "Tell pa that I'm sorry I spent most of his money," Rubin told Ezekiel. "I'll pay him back when I get the chance."

"Yer pa will be a dancing on da moon when ya wander home wid Miss Judy," the fox scoffed back. Then he looked over at Miss Judy. "He dun wert about ta give up on ya ever findin a gal, member when he dun tried to hitch you up wid one of those Hopps gals?"

"Well, I got my own Hopps girl without his help."

"That ya dun did, so ya best keep'er safe bubba."

"Yeah, I'll do that," he replied as he reached up and hugged his best friend.

There were hugs all the way around before Nick and the three rabbits left the other two foxes and the bobcat kitten waiting on the station platform. The four remaining adventurers loaded back into the truck, squeezing into the truck's cabin, which required Judy to contently sit in Nick's lap again. "I heard what you told Ezekiel about the money," Nick finally said as he looked over at the driver. "Judy and I have some money left over from what the foxes gave us back at the World's Fair and I want you to have it."

"Won't you two need it?"

"If things go the way we hope, then we'll be home in the future."

"What happens if it doesn't?"

"Then we'll go to Bunnyburrow with you two!"

"It isn't going to enough to cover what I spent."

"Oh yes it will!" Nick answered with a big grin on his muzzle. "This is 1925, so take the money and make a bet on the upcoming pennant game between the New Gnu Giants and the Piggsburg Pirates. All the money is on the Giants to handily win, but the Pirates will come back from behind in the last inning when Snuffy McHoofs hits a grand slam. If you put your money down on the Pirates, it will be more than enough to pay your father back."

"Nick, gambling is a crime!" Both Judy and Miss Judy objected together.

"Only if you get caught!" Nick laughed.

* * *

 **In major league baseball's 1925** **World Series** **, the National League's** **Pittsburgh Pirates** **defeated the defending champion American League's** **Washington Senators** **in seven games. However, as a minority, Nick would have had to sit in Griffith Stadium's segregated right field and the playing field was just as segregated. It remained so until Jackie Robinson broke the major league's colored barrier for good, when he stepped onto the field wearing a** **Brooklyn Dodgers** **uniform on April 15, 1947. (Although William White, Moses Walker, and Weldy Walker all played in previous major league teams at the end of the 19** **th** **Century). Competing professional** **Negro baseball leagues operated until the early 1950s. The 1925 "Colored World Series" was played between the** **Hilldale Club of the Eastern Colored League and the Kansas City Monarchs of the National Negro League, Hilldale won.**

 **The last surviving player from the American Negro League, Emilio "** **Millito" Navarro, was drafted into the American League on June 6, 2008. On September 18, just shy of his 103 birthday, he stepped out onto the playing field in New York City wearing his new team's uniform and joined the esteemed roster of some of baseball greatest players as a New York Yankee.**


	50. Murder Most Foul

**Chapter 50: Murder Most Foul**

* * *

" **If Time travel were possible, the future would have already taught the present to teach the past how to do it."** \- _Atom Tate_

 **Sometimes things in history cannot be changed…sorry!**

* * *

 **1925**

His treatment by the now dead bull was nothing compared to what Tommy Clawhauser was about to receive at the hoofs of one of the two remaining rams. After watching the gangsters finally drive away, the larger ram named Jimmy brought his right foot hoof smashing down hard upon the bound up cheetah's muzzle, smashing his nose.

"Why'd ya do that?" the other much smaller ram asked.

"I just hate cats!" Jimmy snorted as he gave Tommy another hard kick. "They're just all damn pelts. If I had it my way, we'd take them off to a field somewhere and shoot every one of them."

"Oh come on, they ain't as bad as wolves," the other ram added as he gave a shrug of his uniformed woolly shoulder.

"Shut up Bellwether and grab his legs. Help me haul his carcass over to the car.

"Yeah, sure…" the smaller ram grunted as he grabbed Tommy's ankle and began dragging him across the wet grassy ground towards the nearby police car. "Don't forget the cash!"

"Got it! You know we could always just heave him into the river?"

"Sooner or later he'd float down river and we're too close to the World's Fair grounds. A dead body washing up would cause quite a stir up and you know that the boss wants to keep a lid on everything that's going on down there just to make the mayor happy."

Jimmy grunted as he grabbed Tommy's other ankle and yanked him behind the police car. He hesitated for a few moments, as if he was going to leave the poor cheetah alone, and then with a grin stomped down hard on the cat's left knee. There was a sickening snapping sound and Tommy let out a scream of pain. "Now you can't run away," the ram said as he kicked the cheetah yet again.

"Jeepers, you don't have to be so mean!" Bellwether cried out as he knelt down next to Tommy. "I know we might have to kill him, but just stop torturing him. Sometimes I think that's how you get your jollies."

"Fine, you get his sorry tail into the car."

"What about Gary? We just can't leave his body lying around here in the open."

"Damn!"

"Why don't we load him up in his car and roll it into the river? With the windows shut, he should stay put."

"Good idea!"

Tommy lay helpless upon the cool grassy ground as he writhed in pain and watched as the two rams struggled with the huge bull's body. After a few minutes, they finally tugged and shoved the body into the car's backseat and Jimmy drove away towards the river bank. "A fitting end for the guy who murdered a sheriff and his innocent deputy," he muttered though his bloody lips.

"What?" Bellwether asked as he looked down at his prisoner. "What did you say?"

"I said that it was justice that the bull is being dumped into the same river where he threw the bodies of two other coppers."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Look, ah…Officer Bellwether… I can make you a hero. Maybe get you a well-earned promotion? "

"How can you do that?"

"I know that Al Catpone killed someone."

"Who?"

"A dancer named Molly Greenfields, I know where his boys dumped her body."

There was a splash in the distance, causing Tommy to desperately add, "You and your partner can bring down the most wanted crime lord in the nation. You'd be famous!"

"I don't know?"

"What do you mean by that? Think about this, do you want to just be someone's lackey for the remainder of your life? You can get rich!"

"But the herd…"

"The herd doesn't care about you! You are just another woolen brick in the wall and they want you to mindlessly follow their orders without thinking. This is the Twentieth Century, a new era full of promise for those who seize the day. Step forward and be the hero…be the cop who brought Al Catpone and his whole operation to justice!"

"I'm not sure?"

"Don't you listen to him!" an angry voice called out from a distance.

Although Tommy couldn't see him, he knew his torturer had returned. "Famous!" he quickly called toward the smaller ram. "You'll be famous!"

The larger ram now towered over him again and he glanced up just in time to see the foot hoof coming down upon his face again. Pain racked his head and he saw stars, then the darkness claimed him.

* * *

The truck bumped its way down the road towards the city. "Hey Nick do you have any idea where we are going?" Rubin called over to the fox. "I don't have a map."

"Well we certainly don't have a GPS," Nick snickered back.

"What's a GPS?' the buck replied in a puzzled tone.

"It's a future thing honey," Miss Judy quickly answered.

"I think if we make it to the outskirts of the city, we might be able to find the right road," Nick answered after contemplating the question. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the road would probably still be outside of the city limits."

"We could stop and ask directions…" Judy interjected.

"…that is if big strong bucks do such things nowadays?" Miss Judy finished.

"Why wouldn't I?" Rubin asked in confusion.

"I think she's about to tell you another Nick story," the fox sighed.

"Is it the one when the GPS was broken in the police cruiser and Nick got lost?" Miss Judy quickly asked.

"Yep, goofy here was too proud to stop and ask for directions because he knew all the streets in the city," Judy smugly continued. "We drove for almost half an hour before he realized we were going the wrong direction. He bought a GPS app for his phone after that."

"At least I had us on the right side of the city," Nick laughed along with the girls.

Rubin rolled his eyes and shook his head, before again asking, "Does anyone here have any idea where we are going? Maybe a appie thingie or whatever that was you just were talking about?"

"It's a future thing honey," Miss Judy giggled.

"I figured that out already," the buck sighed. "Another future thing."

"The swamps should be north of the city, just past the river docks. We are looking for Miller's Landing Drive," Nick answered, but then he grew quiet for a few minutes as he looked out of the truck's windows. "I didn't get a chance to warn my great-grandfather about the riot, can you mail this letter for me?"

"Nick, won't that change the future?" Judy protested.

"I'm sorry, but I have to try to save him if I can," the fox sighed. "You would do the same for your family."

"I know, but…" she stopped her protests when she looked up into his emerald eyes and realized that he was afraid.

"If you could save someone from something so terrible," he began again, but hesitated and looked back out of the window.

"Sure Nick, I'll see that it gets mailed," Rubin answered.

"Thanks."

They rode along in silence, before Rubin finally spoke again, "Does it work?"

"Does what work?" Nick replied.

"That...big wall thing," Rubin nodded at something outside of the driver's window.

"The Wall?" Miss Judy asked as she saw the distant foundations for the huge unfinished cement weather wall out of the truck's window. "Yes it does and it changes the whole city. Unfortunately, Zootopia doesn't live up to its promised dream."

"It does in our future, "Judy added. "Sure we still struggle with our old prejudices, but after the Civil Rights Movement and all the business growth, we do get closer to that dream."

"First fox and bunny who ever became city police officers," Nick quickly reminded them. "So yeah, there's hope. But let me warn you there will be hard times ahead. First there is going to be a worldwide financial meltdown like no one has ever seen before, then another war, the Civil Rights Movement, and much more. But this city will become a marvel of technology and a shining lamp to the world."

"So when we get to this swamp, what is the plan?" Rubin changed the subject. "How do we know we got there on time?"

"The first thing we do is find the old tree and then you and I get to wade out there and poke around for the body," Nick answered. There wasn't too much enthusiasm in his voice about wading into the murky waters. "Let's just hope there are no snakes about."

"Or alligators!" Miss Judy added, which made all the mammals in the truck ears droop.

"And if we are too late?" Rubin asked. "What then?"

"Then Fluff here gets to be that private eye I was joking about earlier!" Nick snickered as he rubbed his nose into her neck fur to make her laugh.

"Hopps & Hopps Detective Services!" Miss Judy proclaimed.

"Hey, I should get some billing in that!" the fox barked out.

Both of the rabbits looked over at each other and in unison replied, "No!"

"Hopps & Warren," Rubin corrected them with a grin. "After all, Miss Judy and I are going to get married."

"Maybe I'll make you change your name to Mister Rubin Hopps!" Miss Judy challenged him with a giggle.

"Do they do that in the future?" the buck replied in surprise.

Nick didn't reply, but tensed up and looked around at the scenery. "I think our turn is up ahead, he finally announced. "Yeah, this is the roadway that is leading down towards the swamps."

"It's starting to get dark," Rubin answered as he turned onto the gravel road. He pulled the knob which turned on the truck's headlights. "Do you know when the next turn is going to be?"

"I hope so!" the fox grimly replied.

There was the sound of not so distant gunfire.

"Someone is shooting!" Miss Judy exclaimed as he clutched the straw purse with the gun in it and brought it up into her lap.

The truck rumbled further down the muddy road, until Nick cried out, "Look out!"

Rubin jammed on the truck's brakes just in time to miss a black sedan with its headlights off roaring out in front of them from a side road. A familiar looking fat ram briefly glanced at them, before the sedan disappeared into the darkness from where they had just come.

"Turn here!" Judy snapped as she tried to look down the dark road. "Something has already happened!"

* * *

Several minutes earlier the thin cheetah was kneeling in the center of a muddy backroad, his once white dress shirt was ripped and there was blood trickling down his muzzle onto his torn striped tie before it dripped to stain the gravel below his knees crimson red. The private detective had long given up any attempts to wiggle or cut his way out of the stout ropes which bound his arms behind his back. Looking up at the two figures that were outlined by the car's headlights he shook his head. "Yeah, it figures it would be you in charge," he spoke to the third figure who slowly climbed out of a nearby unmarked patrol car. "I knew that Al Catpone had his claws into the cops, but I didn't know he owned the Chief of Police too?"

"Catpone don't own me chump," the fat ram in the dark blue uniform grunted out as he walked his way towards the wounded cat. The four gold stars on each of his uniform's shirt collars glittered in the car lights. "We have a mutual business arrangement which make us both rather rich."

"He shouldn't have killed Molly Greenhoofs," the detective sighed. "She wasn't anyone important, just an innocent young doe from Deerbrook County."

"What can I say?" the ram chuckled. "Catpone has unique tastes for a jaguar, he's into prey stalking."

"You know you won't get away with this?" the kneeling cat sighed. "Justice will prevail, even if I have to climb my way out of hell to get you."

"I won't get away with it? Ha, I already have Clawhauser and there's no coming back from where you're going," the ram chuckled and then stepped back as he nodded to the other two officers standing next to him. They both lowered their rifles and fired, riddling the helpless cheetah with round after round. After looking intently over the now dead body, the fat ram finally spoke again, "Dump him in the swamp where no one will find him!"

The fat ram grunted as he climbed back into his sedan and drove off, leaving his lackeys to dispose of poor Tommy.

* * *

There was a glowing light down the road. "Hit the headlights and kill the engine!" Nick whispered to Rubin. "We'll sneak up on them to see what is going…" Before he could finish, the grey bunny in his lap pushed open the door and leaped onto the muddy roadway, without hesitation she frantically sprinted unarmed towards the light.

"No, we are too late!" Judy cried out. Ahead of her a police car was parked across the road, its headlights illuminated the two police officers who had already waded into the swamp's dark waters while pulling the dead body of the slain cheetah behind them. When they heard her voice, they paused from their chore of stuffing the body into the sunken tree roots of an old cypress tree and looked back at the intruders.

Nick was right behind her, but he tripped and fell as he grabbed at her arm. Sprawled on the ground, he watched one of the rams draw a pistol. "Carrots, look out!" he yelled as crawled to his knees.

Blam!

The gun sounded loud in the stillness of the night. Desperately the fox leaped at the rabbit just as she was spun around by the impact of the bullet and it was then that he saw both her startled look and the blood! "NO!" he yowled in shock as he flung himself at Judy. His eyes widened in fear, when he saw that the ram had raised the gun again. Nick desperately grasped for Judy and grabbed her paw.

Bang!

Nick tensed up, expecting to see the bullet's impact into the one he loved, but instead he heard the ram groan. Even as he pulled Judy into his embrace, the fox glanced over and saw the police officer stagger backwards before dropping onto his knees in the blackish waters. The second cop panicked and then ran, splashing desperately towards the police car.

Bang!

A bullet whizzed by the fleeing ram as Miss Judy struggled with the heavy pistol in her paws as she tried to recover her aim after the gun's mighty recoil. "Damn it!" she cursed as she watched the ram dive into the car and then with a roar, drive away down the dirt road away from them. She swung the gun back towards the wounded ram, who was still on his knees in the water, but hesitated at what she saw.

Launching itself out of the now white foaming water was a green scaly monster with rows of sharp teeth which latched onto the wounded police officer's torso. With a scream, the ram was pulled down into now bloody water by a large alligator. There was suddenly what appeared to be an underwater struggle, but the rabbit was sickened when she realized that it was only the large cold blooded killer tearing apart its prey with a death roll.

"Gods!" Rubin choked out as he too watched the officer's demise.

"Nick! Judy!" Miss Judy called out as she turned back towards the road¸ but the fox and rabbit were no longer there!

"Where did they go?" Rubin asked as he cautiously walked to the spot where they had fallen, but only the blood soaked gravel and dirt marked where they had previously huddled together. "They're gone!"

"Home…they must have gone back home to their own time!" Miss Judy answered as he took his paw. "But if so, then why am I still here?" She slowly walked over and fumbled in the straw purse she had earlier dropped when getting out the gun. Then she dug out the broken pocket watch and held it before her as if she was expecting something to happen.

Rubin quickly grabbed it out of her paw and with a desperate fling, tossed it into the swamp. It splashed into the water by the cypress tree, right on top of its original dead owner's sunken body. "Now you can't take her away from me!" he screamed at where the watch had sunken, as if he was challenging time itself. The frantic buck desperately crushed her into his embrace. "She belongs with me!"

Miss Judy looked up into his panicked eyes. "Rubin, how?…" she began. She didn't finish her question, but instead she reached up and took his muzzle in her paws. It was then that she truly realized that she was finally where she belonged. She didn't belong in the distant future, but here in this time and place. Leaning forward, she kissed him and then clung to him for all she was worth.

"I think we need to get out of here, before that other copper returns with reinforcements," Rubin finally whispered. "It's time we went home too."

Unbeknownst to either rabbit, Officer Bart Bellwether had lost control of his car just a few miles down the rain slick road and was killed when it flipped over into the swamp and sank into the ageless, dark murky brown waters. He left behind a widow and three lambs, who never knew of his fate.

"We need to leave!" Rubin urged Miss Judy once more. The rabbit doe had turned back and looked around at the now seemingly deserted backroad. There was no sign of their companions or the cheetah, as the rain began to fall once again from the night sky and began to wash way the blood.

"We need to report the murder…" she began, but her ears drooped and she looked back into the dark swamp. "But who'd believe us? We can't go to the cops, they are the murders and just I killed one of their fellow officers."

"I think we'll just leave this place, leave this damn city and go back to the farm where it's safe," Rubin replied as he draped his arm over her shoulder and steered her back towards the waiting truck.


	51. You Can't Break History

**Chapter 51:** **You Can't Break History**

* * *

" _ **Paradoxes are just scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make."**_ \- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

 **Our present story wraps up, as time and space do indeed heal themselves, but Nick and Judy soon face a new challenge.**

* * *

 **Present Day**

It was midday by the time that the Fisheries and Wildlife ranger had gathered up the last of his gear from the former crime scene, the bones of the long dead cheetah had been removed by the forensic team and it had taken the otter several hours longer to finally get every trace of the investigation scrubbed from "his swamp". The ranger had just driven a few miles down the road from the crime scene to look around and stopped when he heard a splashing sound. He glanced towards the swamp, only to shudder when he saw a pair of dark beady eyes glaring back at him from the blackish waters. "Phil, I see you're back again," he called out to the alligator, which just silently floated like a log as he waited for his next meal to swim by.

After turning his truck around, the ranger slowly drove back towards the former crime scene. The afternoon sun shone down around him, filtering through the shade of the trees and the gray Spanish moss, which hung from the ancient pin oak trees giving the road a haunted primeval look. Tired, he yawned and reached over to flick on his radio. The sounds of a classic tune by Feetwood Yak came on and he smiled. It was the same song that was playing the night he met his wife Patty and by the gods that seemed so long ago, was he really now almost sixty?

He was jolted by a bump in the road and frowned, that would have to be repaired. I many ways, he was surprised that the road wasn't in worse condition after all the financial cut backs that the state had been doing. He frowned again at the thought of all the paperwork which awaited him back at the office, if you wanted to call that patched up double wide trailer an office.

As he drove around a bend, the ranger blinked because there was suddenly a shimmering and then he saw them in the middle of the roadway just in time to slam on the truck's brakes. He was shocked to see that there was a red fox, wearing what appeared to be a vintage brown suit, kneeling in the roadway, clasping a grey female rabbit in a black sequin dress in his arms. The road around them was tinged with blood. Grabbing his radio, the otter frantically called out, "I need an ambulance and the police on Miller's Landing Drive. It looks like someone has been shot!"

The battered looking fox looked at him with wide eyes and just yowled, "Help us!".

Voices…distant voices…strangely familiar sounds…where was she?

Beep! Beep! Beep! The sound of the hospital monitor was soothing to the rabbit's ears as she continued in that strange reality of being half asleep and yet not awake. It was a place where everything seemed pleasant, but her mind warned here that it was time to wake up and her eyes fluttered open as she tried to focus them on the white ceiling tiles overhead. There was something heavy on her chest and she reached over to stroke one of the fox's reddish brown tipped ears. "Nick…is that you?" she croaked out as she felt the fox stir. Her head was swimming, which meant that she was obviously still on some kind of pain medication.

"Judy, you're awake!" Nick exclaimed as his tail began to wag and he reached over to put a paw on her cheek.

"What's the matter Slick? Did you think that you were going to lose me?"

"Don't act so dramatic Carrots, he only winged you and then you fainted."

"I wouldn't recommend time traveling when you are wounded."

"Fluff, its going to take more than a gunshot wound to take you away from me."

"Take me away from you? Why Mister Wilde, you act like you really do care for me."

"I do at that, I've fallen in love with the wittiest, cutest, and sexist lady I have ever met." he replied as he leaned closer to her. Their noses were almost touching.

"Nick...I love you too." she sighed out as she leaned into his kiss.

"Wilde!" a voice called out from the doorway. "How the hell did you two get from the station back to the swamp, who shot Judy, and why were you both dressed like gangsters from the Roaring Twenties?"

The fox looked up at the handsome horse standing in the doorway, Detective Ronald Oates was wearing the same rumpled tan suit and had a wheat stalk stuck between his teeth.

"You're timing stinks Hay Breath," Nick answered. "Come back latter Oates, I'm about to kiss my honey bunny."

The detective didn't answer, but just smiled as he closed the door.

* * *

 **Present Day**

Agent Jack Savage wheeled the sporty black sedan past a burning car and sped up. Minos had only half heartily objected to giving him the key fob to the brand new Weasel Marten Rapide Z. The high tech electric car was Q's pride and joy and the small mouse had specifically warned Minos not to give "that jackrabbit" the keys. However, his former partner knew that it was the fastest way to get Agent Longears the necessary medical care she needed.

The clinic at the Federal Building had been destroyed and if they had tried to surrender to the military police, it would have taken too long for a medic to arrive with the proper medical supplies the right size to stabilize the fox. Instead they had hooked her up with an IV bag of plasma inside of the car and tried to stem the bleeding. This was one of the times when Jack wished he had stayed in collage and became an accountant or actuary, something which was by far much more mundane and stress free then the life of a special agent.

Jack could see the hospital in the distance as he gunned the vehicle as fast as it would go. "We're almost there!" he called out to the petite vixen slumped in the seat next to him. Lisa's breathing had become erratic as she struggled to keep awake. "Keep putting pressure on that wound!"

The state of the art car roared down the highway and towards the exit ramp. Jack frowned as he glanced over at his passenger, there was a lot of blood and he was unsure if she would make it…suddenly there was a shimmering...Jack shook his head as if he was coming out of a day dream, the thin jackrabbit in the blue blazer looked up just in time to slam on the car's brakes. Once again the traffic was backed up on the street before him and the white Zooyota Cricket he was driving gave a sudden shudder, he frowned as the check engine light came on. "Cheap foreign models!" he cursed as he looked around in a panic. He glanced over into the passenger's seat again and sighed when he saw that at least his briefcase didn't fall and spill its contents on the floor. As he came to the bottom of the ramp, the car jerked, but he managed to roll it into the parking lot of the nearby service station just before it stopped.

With another curse, the long-eared accountant pulled his tie loose as he stepped out of the car and looked over at the service station's front door, a sign which read "CLOSED" hung inside. "Damn," Jack cursed yet again, but the sound of music caught his ears and he looked over to see that one of the bay doors was still open. Desperately he peeked inside and his ears drooped when he saw her, a very pretty white furred arctic fox in pair of dark blue overalls sitting on a beat up tool box eating a sandwich.

She looked up at him with her stunning blue eyes and smiled before she asked, "How can I help you cutie?"

"I think I broke my car…" he began to answer and then his eyes caught the name stenciled on the tool box. "Miss Skye."

* * *

 **Present Day**

Adolf moved silently along the table...suddenly there was a shimmering...he blinked his eyes as he watched his target. Slowly he crept along the table and then with a mightily leap, he landed on the grey fox's arm and began to climb.

"Hey there buddy!" Jessie laughed as the hairy spider continued to climb up the sleeve of his light blue cotton dress shirt and then settle on his shoulder. "So who let you out of your cage?"

The tarantula however was contently perched on the grey fox's shoulder as it watched the librarian across the room. She had picked up several books that had been left discarded on one of the library's tables and both the spider and male fox watched as the pretty petite kit fox vixen glanced down at each book's spine to read the Dewy Decimal number before she returned it to its proper place.

"So how about dinner at Mel's over on Main?" Lisa Longears asked as she turned to watch her boyfriend return the spider to his cage.

* * *

 **Present Day**

With a huge sigh, the aegean cat in the black suit was led out in pawcuffs by the military police into the lobby of the downtown federal administration building. Every agent with the Agency was either killed or, like his team, arrested by the police during the brief siege. He knew that the all-powerful Agency would now be broken by the recent events, soon it would be carved up into smaller independent bureaus and agencies which were easier to be managed and held responsible for their actions by the politicians. Around him were the scars from the battle which had taken place earlier. It was then that something caught his eye and he turned back and stared at a painting of one of the Agency's most famous agents that was hanging slightly off kilter on the shell pocketed wall.

From within the gilded frame, was a much older version of a familiar looking rabbit doe and she seemed to be staring back at him with a playful smile. He suddenly realized it was that of an aged Judy Hopps."You've got to be kidding me?" he muttered in surprise...suddenly there was a shimmering...Agent Topal Minos shook his head, as if clearing his mind, while he stared down at the shining white tiles of the building's lobby. He looked back up at the painting of Judith Laverne Warren, who was the ZBI's first female agent. She was the rabbit who became famous for bringing many of history's most ruthless gangsters, including the infamous Al Catpone, to justice. Shoving his right paw into his black suit jacket, he crossed the pristine lobby and out onto the sidewalk towards his awaiting car. From the pocket, he pulled out a pistachio and cracked the nut open while he pondered how he was going to approach his interview with two cops who had told a story of traveling through time.

* * *

 **1928**

The old Model TT truck rumbled down the cemetery's dirt road and past rows upon rows of graves. "There's the grave of Ricky's grandmother!" Miss Judy called out as she elbowed the handsome white and black furred buck next to her. "Now all we have to do is dig up the ledger book and then we can bring down Catpone!"

"We can dig up something?" Rubin laughed. "I'll do the digging, dear. You can barely see your feet under that baby bump!"

"I won't argue with you about that."

"My wife, the ever intrepid ZBI Agent! Zachariah was right about me never being able to keep you down on the farm. Now we need to hurry, because I have a store opening to attend in just a few hours."

* * *

 **Distance Future**

"You can't break history," an aged goat in a vintage postal workers dark blue chambray uniform sighed out as he spoke to the small mechanical device which hovered near the wall. "Everything has been reset back to as normal as we could get things. There was, of course, some unrepairable residual temporal damage. Now you must get the artifact before it does any more damage to the timeline and that is your assignment." He watched the small white object float down the hallway, before he shouted, "Don't hurt either one of them this time!"

Reaching over, the goat picked up a large box and after withdrawing a letter from his pocket, he tossed it inside the box next to an undamaged gold pocket watch, a police officer's badge, and a rusted twenty-first century taser pistol. "We couldn't have you delivered my dear," he said to it as he looked down at the letter with the name and address of Richard Wilde printed on the outside. "If you had been delivered, Wilde may not have gone to the billiards hall during the riot and lived. No riot, no angry Mrs. Wilde to berate the good Reverend Piberius. Without Piberius being a very loud and influential voice for civil rights, the laws wouldn't change."

"Professor, I don't understand why was it so important to have allowed a bootstrap paradox to occur?" A young ibex in a white lab coat asked as he looked away from the monitor he was viewing and at the goat. "All of this was to do what?"

"Cal, please call it an ontological paradox and not that vulgar bootstrap crap," the Professor sniffed out as he turned to face the buck. "We had to get the other Judy Hoops back into the timeline so she could bring down Al Catpone, we had no other choice."

"Why, so she could marry Rubin Warren and start a chain of grocery stores?"

"Don't be so naive! Catopone's arrest fractures his crime empire and Lucky ends up controlling the longshoremammals union on the waterfront. Lucky is later arrested by Judy Warren for various mob activities and is jailed. During his incarceration, the lion works out a deal with Commander C. Radcliff Hoofendon to use his mobsters and union connections during the war to stop enemy saboteurs from destroying vital navel cargo. Precious cargo that was necessary for the allies to win the war on time."

"Still, I don't understand why? It could not have been that important, the allies would have won the war anyways."

"What is important is that the gangster's actions would stop foreign saboteurs from sinking a ship which carried a not so special, but still important, bomb. That bomb would be dropped on top of a factory where the infamous Doctor Joseph Mingler was researching and attempting to weaponize a particular strain of canine distemper. It will destroy the doctor and all his notes, keeping his work out of the hoofs of a radical anti-predator terrorist group, led by Dawn Bellwether. Her fellow terrorist would have later replicated it and released it upon the city. It would mutate out of control and exterminate not only most of the canids, but almost all mammalian life on the planet.

"Yeah, I guess a planet run by cockroaches wouldn't be a good thing!" the ibex laughed out, much to the disapproval of the goat. "Still, why do I have the feeling we left something or someone undone?"

* * *

 **Present Day**

"Nicolaus!" the pretty vixen called out to the red fox, who was standing in the field leaning on his hoe. "I am going to the village to see mamma!"

The other fox named Nicolaus, didn't remember that he was once known as a hustler by the name of Nick Wilde, instead he smiled as he waved back to his departing girlfriend. For a few minutes more, he paused at his work to look at the distant sparkling blue sea that lay beyond his small farm and shook his head as he recalled the dream he had again of a city. It was a huge city with tall stately skyscrapers and a massive wall which controlled the weather. When he was he lost in the nearby port city, he heard sailors telling tales that such a city did exist far across the seas and they called the city Zootopia. However, his dream always ended badly and in the same way, with him almost drowning, an exploding car, and then a jackrabbit in a black suit. It was almost like he hadn't always lived here, but instead in that horrid place. But, he knew that was wrong…it had to be wrong… because all he remembered after the shimmering, was being here. That was the only thing he remembered when the villagers found him wandering the nearby hills.

He glanced back at the white washed stone house, which gleamed in the sun, and at the green fields of crops which surrounded it. "Zootopia!" he scoffed softly to himself. "Why would anyone want to live in such a place?"

* * *

 **Lucky's story is based on the true story of the US Navy making a deal with the mobster "Lucky" Luciano to use his mafia connections with the previously uncooperative longshoremen to protect the docks in New York City from attempted saboteurs. The government also informally cooperated with the Jewish mob, led by Meyer Lansky, as they disrupted the efforts of Nazi sympathizers during the late 1930's and later during the war, against Nazi agents.**

 **I chose to follow the popular fanfiction direction of Skye being a pure white arctic fox in this story. The concept art by Byron Howard of a vixen, who is sometimes identified as Skye, has her sitting on the top of a tool box and her fur is rather tan in coloration. I would like to thank** **Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps for guiding me to that artwork.**

* * *

 **Nick and Judy's time traveling adventures will be continued in** _ **Zootopia: Broken Time.**_

 **Nick & Judy find themselves once again lost in time! Unfortunately, it is during that brutal era of history we call the Dark Ages. This is the Age of Arthur, but he does not rule that bright & shining kingdom of legend. Kings squabble with each other over petty slights, even as their kingdoms are threatened by savage raiders and a fox in love with a rabbit is forbidden.  
**

 _ **Excerpt from Zootopia: Broken Time: **_

_**"**_ _Look out Nick!" Judy cried out, but her warning was too late as a powerful reddish orange fist smacked into his muzzle and sent him sprawling._

 _Gently touching his nose, Nick looked up at his attacker and gaped at what he saw. Despite the silvery coat of chainmail she wore, the angry vixen was very, very sexy looking. "By the gods, was supposed to be my kill FOX!" she growled at him with her teeth bared. "I spent days luring yon bird into a trap and thou ruined everything!"_

" _I thought you were in danger?" the tod tried to explain. "That's why I shouted to warn you!"_

" _In danger? In danger? Do I look like some mealy mouthed fair maiden who sits around waiting for some damn knight to charge in and save her from peril? Nay! I am a warrior…a spear maiden…a hunter of eagles!"_

" _Well how was I supposed to know that? You were standing in the middle of the field picking flowers, wearing a huge cloak and that silly pointed hat."_

" _What be wrong with my hennin? My brother brought me that fine hat when he returned from the Great Court. He claimed it twas the latest finery worn by all the ladies."_

" _It looks like a dunce cap!"_

" _Fie, what is a dunce?" the vixen asked as she tilted her head with curiosity._

" _Would you two stop bickering?" Judy frantically yelled from inside of the woods. "Your winged friend is coming back!"_


End file.
